Halima and Her Little Explorers Bring
Agriculture into the Classroom

Halima and Her Little
Explorers Bring Agriculture
into the Classroom

Halima and Her Little Explorers Bring
Agriculture into the Classroom

A fourth-grade mathematics teacher, Halima, from Spanish Basic Co-Ed, a public school in Ramallah, participated in Round I of the Acting As An Innovator Program in 2022. Throughout her career in education, Halima was eager to break the barriers of traditional educational models, where teachers ask questions and students provide answers based on rigid curricula that focus on memorization and lack integration with students’ interests and real-life contexts.

Qaddumi Foundation commissioned Omnia Education Partnerships to implement the Acting As An Innovator Program in Palestine in 2021. Upon the launch of AAAI Round I, Halima was among the first teachers to apply for the program. She was eager to take advantage of this innovative educational opportunity to address one of the most critical educational challenges in Palestine: teaching subjects in silos, without integrating them into students’ daily lives.
 
Throughout her ten-year teaching career, Halima noticed that many teachers are unaware of the content being taught in other subjects, and most of them do not receive any training to teach in a multidisciplinary way. This is negatively reflected in students’ academic performance, especially in sciences, mathematics, and technology.

Halima kicked off her project with a meeting with 25 fourth-grade students to understand what topic they were curious to explore. During the meeting, the students expressed their interest in the topic of agriculture. Halima praised the idea due to the influence of agriculture on food security and alleviating hunger among impoverished families. The students decided to name their team “Little Explorer”, and collectively created a logo by sketching their ideas with the help of the art teacher. Halima shared the agriculture topic with the staff to collaborate on developing a teaching plan that includes STE(A)M in her project. Halima initiated her project “Bringing Agriculture into the Classroom” as part of the AAAI program. The project aimed to establish a hydroponic greenhouse at the school, emphasizing the link between various school subjects and the real world.

The Little Explorer team approached several institutions and families to gather donations for creating their own garden. Although the students were not able to collect the required amount of money to complete the project during the academic year, they learned great lessons regarding fundraising and community support. They decided to continue raising funds to implement their project next year.

The AAAI program aims to train 400 teachers from public, private, and UNRWA schools in the West Bank and Gaza over 3 years. The first round involved 24 teachers from different parts of Palestine. Forming 12 teams and supported by 8 mentors, the participants developed various creative projects under two main themes: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Integration and Application of STE(A)M Approach in Education.
 
For more information about Halima and her team’s project, please click here.
 
For more information about the AAAI program, please click here.