Jackson Educator Packs up Science Gadgets and Heads to Malaysia

School is out but Jackson Junior High School science teacher Shana Kight doesn't have plans of packing up the beakers and goggles until next year, instead she'll take her science gadgets around the world.

"I'm excited but nervous," says Kight.

Kight will spend her summer in Malaysia where she'll teach science.

"I am going to work with the teachers in the Padang Polo Secondary Schools on how to use the internet more efficiently in their classrooms for science," says Kight

The grant funded program through Southeast Missouri State University not only sends American educators to different parts of the world, but brings educators from all across the world right here to the United States.

"During their stay, the International educators were placed with one of three schools in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, and Sikeston," says Kight.

Malaysia educator Ms. Tan Siew Lan recently shadowed Kight to see how education in America is different from education in her country. Kight says, "Malaysia schools are definitely behind in education. They do not have the resources and technology available like we do in America. Their average classroom size is around 40+ students."

Kight wants to help change this trend by helping Malaysia educators better understand how to use technology in the science classroom. That's what she'll do this summer and when she returns, Kight hopes to link her students with Ms. Tan Siew Lan's students via the World Wide Web. "My classes will do science activities via the internet with Ms. Tan Siew Lan's classes in the fall," says Kight.