Our fellow, Matt Solt, visited our host site in the Philippines last month. He has shared with us his experience becoming a Science Corps Fellow, teaching a robotics workshop at Central Visayan Institute Foundation (CVIF), attending a physics conference, and exploring the Philippines outside of the classroom. Learn more about Matt's adventures below! If Matt's experience piques your interest in becoming a fellow yourself, apply here!
Why did you become a Science Corps Fellow?
Like most Science Corps fellows, Matt was looking for a break between defending his PhD and the next adventure, and he stumbled on Science Corps. He was accepted as a Science Corps Fellow back in 2019 with a plan to spend about 6 months at CVIF in Jagna, Bohol, the Philippines, in the fall semester of 2020. Unfortunately, COVID-19 had other plans, and he was forced to do the fellowship remotely, becoming the first remote Science Corps fellow. Between finishing his thesis and starting his postdoc, he was able to develop a curriculum for a computer programming and data analysis course through the so-called Dynamic Learning Program (DLP), described below. Despite being a remote fellow in a very unique situation, Science Corps was always committed to sending him there in person, albeit on a shorter time scale since he now has a full-time job. He was able to complete his fellowship in person in July 2023.
What do you think about the Dynamic Learning Program?
CVIF is the center of the Dynamic Learning Program (DLP), originally developed and implemented by Chris and Marivic Bernido, both theoretical physicists. It puts emphasis on students actively learning as opposed to teachers lecturing. It is a well-defined curriculum through individual worksheets called LAS, where students work individually or in groups to learn on their own. Matt found it interesting how similar it was to his time as a teacher's assistant (TA) in the Stanford Physics Department when he was a graduate student. Pushed by Nobel laureate Carl Wieman, this method is now becoming more popular at physics departments at elite universities in the U.S.
In addition to a similar method at elite universities, this style of teaching has several clear advantages. First, it is scalable, as the curriculum is developed centrally at CVIF and can be used by other schools in the area — in fact, the material developed by CVIF is used by 500+ schools in the Philippines! Second, it is resistant to disasters. Geographically, the Philippines is prone to natural disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes, in addition to, of course, a pandemic. Recently, on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Visayas (the central region of the Philippines) was hit with a major typhoon. Because of the reliance on student independence, the DLP program, which had already been fully implemented at CVIF and other schools, enabled students to continue with their learning with minimal interruption.
What did you accomplish at CVIF?
Matt's main task while at CVIF was to plan and run a robotics workshop for the ICT and STEM students at CVIF, which was a natural extension of the course material he had developed as a remote fellow. The workshop utilized a Raspberry Pi micro-controller that the students needed to connect electrically and program in order to run. He chose a Raspberry Pi because it was originally developed for educational purposes focused on student learning, the Python language (which was used in his course) could easily be used, and it could be used as a personal computer with its own operating system for students who may not have their own computer.
The workshop lasted three days and went very well. The students were incredibly excited to work with the robot, many never having done so before. Before the workshop, the students had a pre-workshop to learn the basics of Python programming, a necessary prerequisite for operating the Raspberry Pi. The students were enthusiastic, learned quickly, and covered a lot of coding material in three short days. The workshop consisted of about 20 students. Matt was impressed that every student was able to individually achieve the three milestones of the workshop: code a blinking LED on the Raspberry Pi (their first robot, by the definition given at the workshop), connect and guide a robot through an obstacle course, and analyze public data taken from a Raspberry Pi on the International Space Station. The workshop concluded with a competition of who could guide the robot through the obstacle course the fastest, and the top five students were given rewards.
What is the future of this robotics workshop at CVIF?
The goal of the workshop was not just to train the students who attended at this time, but to be able to transfer this knowledge to instructors to run future workshops and to make it easily transferable to other schools in the region. Because of interest in furthering the knowledge of both the students who attended the workshop and the instructors, the CVIF instructors will start a robotics workshop at CVIF where students can continue to work with the materials supplied by Science Corps and learn more of the capabilities of a Raspberry Pi. These are skills that can be utilized in any STEM field in college courses and beyond, in their careers.
What were your thoughts on the physics conference you attended?
The timing of the workshop worked out perfectly so that Matt could also attend the Physics Society of the Philippines (SPP) conference in Del Carmen, Siargao. He was privileged to be able to give an invited talk on his personal research, which involves exploring low-mass dark matter at particle accelerators. The conference contained almost 300 people. When the Bernidos received their PhDs in the 1980s, there were only about 10 physics PhDs in the entire country. This conference attendance is a testament to the commitment of a few dedicated physicists who chose to devote much of their careers to improving the physics literacy of their country. In addition, most of the conference population was very young, mostly undergraduates and graduate students — an indication that the future of Filipino physics is bright, as the number of physics PhDs will continue to increase in the near future.
At the conference, Matt enjoyed conversing with many of the Filipino physicists. He was also able to meet the mayor of Del Carmen, who complimented the DLP program and how it has impacted students by increasing their scientific literacy in his region, especially in the wake of the most recent typhoon just two years ago. To date, the Philippines has approximately 100 PhDs in physics, and with a population of about 100 million, Filipino physicists like to refer to themselves as "one in a million."
How was your experience beyond work?
Outside of the robotics workshop and the physics conference, there was plenty of time to explore the beautiful nature within the Philippines. Matt was able to visit 5 different islands (of the 7,200+ islands in the Philippines) in his short visit there. He snorkeled with whale sharks and jumped off waterfalls on Cebu. He also saw the Chocolate Hills and exotic animals on Bohol — including holding a Burmese python, which, of course, everyone joked was a fitting encounter given he was running a "Python" workshop. Lastly, he was able to surf on Cloud 9 on Siargao, known as the surfing capital of the Philippines (though he is a beginner to surfing).
In addition, the Filipino people are very welcoming and generous. The faculty of CVIF were essential to running a smooth workshop and to its success. They were willing to show Matt around town and went on many adventures. They took him to the best food place in Jagna, and he enjoyed every variety of Filipino food, though he had his limits and politely declined to eat the local delicacy known as "balut."
Apply for a Fellowship!
If Matt's experience as a fellow and his adventures in the Philippines have inspired you, apply for a life-changing fellowship! We review applications on a rolling basis throughout the year. Don't hesitate to contact us for more information about our fellowships and application process!