Fellow Update! Cultivating Curiosity: Kris’s Inspiring Journey of Environmental Education at Rabat American School

Our fellow, Kris Sales shares his experiences in our site at Rabat American School, Morocco.

Learn more about Kris Sale’s adventures below! If Kris’ experience piques your interest in becoming a fellow yourself, apply here!

1^st month

Why Did You Become a Science Corps Fellow?

My Science Corps Fellow timing was slightly unusual. Often, fellowships take place between the PhD exam and the next adventure, but I was two years into a researcher role when I spotted an advert on an Evolutionary Directory email list. Science Corps was attractive because it offered:

1. An experience abroad in a very different culture. I was ready for a change since my experience had been mainly laboratory evolutionary experiments, and I had spent nearly a decade learning and researching on the same University of East Anglia campus in Norwich (famous, among other things, for strong Colman’s mustard and the comedy character Alan Partridge).
2. Teaching as a core activity. While there wasn’t an expectation for PhD students to teach, I helped as much as possible. I loved sharing knowledge in classes where I was previously a student (like a Field Ecology course in Ireland) and getting school kids excited about the often astounding field of biology.
3. Promoting upward social mobility. Only two people in my extended family went to university, and I didn’t know what one was until I was 17. I’m strongly in favor of an inclusive meritocracy and support anything that facilitates this.

Originally, I was heading out to the American School of Tangiers in early 2021, but like for most of the globe, Covid forced other plans. It was only possible this year to finally reach Morocco after travel restrictions eased and my life stabilized. In total, it was four years between applying and flying out! My new destination was the Rabat American School…

How’s the 1st Month Gone?

It’s been an adventure! This fellowship is quite unique. It’s the first Sci Corps placement here, which means plenty of solution-finding and negotiating through uncertainties over logistics and a teaching ‘niche’ (excuse the biology pun).

It’s instantly impressive how passionate, experienced, friendly, and socially aware the teachers are. It’s also impressive how busy the school timetable seems! Even from day one, a week before students arrived, most of my time was filled with training sessions like positive discipline. As a host, RAS is well-resourced and well-connected.

My Science Corps Fellowship placement attracted much intrigue from the teachers. To help give more context to the staff, I gave presentations about the charity, my research and teaching experience, and potential directions for my time here. I also sent out a Google poll survey for staff to vote on future collaborative activities and topics I could offer. The outputs from the fellowship will likely be an interaction between Sci Corps aims, my background, and RAS’s needs; I’m very keen that resources are translated and distributed to other schools. I aim to repeat the survey with the students, too. I hope that teachers will approach me for help on specific modules and lessons, and I can provide school-wide support on broader research projects and topics. Some direct connections with other local schools and charities may also form.

Besides helping build resources for biology lessons and acclimatizing, I have been learning about the local ecologies and have started to survey the local biodiversity. It’s at about 100 species so far! The iconic Monarch butterflies, which migrate thousands of kilometers across the Americas, seem to have set up residence here, which surprised me. I’ve also encountered beautiful, yet potentially deadly, fat-tailed Androctonus scorpions. The recent earthquake had a devastating effect between Agadir and Marrakech, and the school has not been immune to its wider repercussions, with some of the community’s friends and relatives being impacted. If the quake had happened two weeks later, the secondary school classes would have been on a week-long ‘Week Without Walls’ camping trip in that area.

2^nd month

Preparation, Presentations, Plants, and Ponds

After presenting to all teaching staff about the charity, my background, and potential ideas for the school, I followed up with a questionnaire to determine how my time should be best spent. The most popular answers from around 50 topics were:

• More information about the species on the school’s campus
• Nature walks
• Promoting upward social mobility. Only two people in my extended family went to university, and I didn’t know what one was until I was 17. I’m strongly in favor of an inclusive meritocracy and support anything that facilitates this.
• How do non-animals communicate?
• Extinctions (especially from climate change)
• Animal behavior
• Dealing with online misinformation
• Cool parasites
• Fixing the school’s pond
• Fixing the school’s community garden

These will now form the core areas that I will focus on.

I gathered or created over 150 resources that I have shared with teachers so far. Phew! These have mainly supported lesson topics such as food webs, evolution, plant taxonomy, making infographics, statistics, and climate change. I’ve helped diagnose the likely issues behind the garden and the pond, and I have designed improvement plans for student volunteers and maintenance staff to implement.

I’ve been sharing research news about female Moroccan scientists, insect sentience, and biases in artificial intelligence. It’s been great when teachers come to me with photos of creatures to identify, research papers to be translated into simpler messages, and requests for my research to be included in their lessons. Students have also been approaching me with some great science questions!

Perhaps the most impactful and nerve-wracking thing I did this month was presenting and then being interviewed at the elementary school’s assembly; an audience of over 200 children, parents, teachers, and the director. I made sure to slow down and simplify my language, include body language, audience participation, and lots of pictures and video clips. My main messages were: 1) scientists are now diverse, and any of the children could become one; 2) it’s OK to change what they want to do as they get older; and 3) not to touch wild animals, as it’s stressful for the animal and could be dangerous.

3^rd month

Work: Field Ecology, Evolution, Climate Change, Statistics, and Infographics

The past weeks have been busy. All the classes at the school have had introduction scientist talks, and I’ve been creating resources across several projects.

The ecological surveying continued, with almost 200 species found within 5 km of campus. The plan is to turn this data into a spreadsheet with their locations and various aspects of their biology. Questions and pictures from teachers about nature at the school have continued to come in. Excitingly, teachers from other state-funded schools have started reaching out through mutual colleagues or the RAS’s Fulbright network.

The social science faculty requested my help with infographics after they saw an animated video on my research during the staff talk. They wanted to improve the effectiveness of projects where students design posters and infographics to share their research with the public. I collated two dozen examples from my previous work with annotations for my choices of colors, shapes, and layouts, as well as information on science communication.

A teacher running field trips to Svalbard, Norway, saw that I had worked there as a marine biologist for several months and requested I put together lessons on climate change, ecology, and conservation issues in that region.

Three of my larger projects included: 1. Turning evolutionary biology concepts into card and dice games; 2. Developing new lessons on the impacts and solutions of climate change; and 3. Conducting workshops on how scientists use data and statistics to draw conclusions, reach a consensus, and then share conclusions with the general public. Satisfyingly, enough resources and demonstrations were provided for the teachers to run these sessions without my presence.

A highlight was being invited on the elementary overnight trip to Khemisset, a rural area between Rabat and Meknes. Armed with a butterfly net, pots, and identification resources, I opportunistically caught insects and sampled plants to prompt short hands-on talks about how to identify them and what their significance is. The morning of the second day started with unveiling a moth trap (a bright light over a black box). It was filled with live moths and highlighted that they aren’t all boring brown ones that feed on clothes! It was satisfying to see teachers break off into small groups and run through problem-based exercises based on nature observations and ecological concepts that I’d created. We also visited a co-operative farm and the local souk (market), which presented some challenging animal welfare scenarios. Here, I was keen to promote respect for nature and conservation alongside an appreciation of the natural world.

4^th month

Holiday: 1,100 km Moroccan Road Trip

With my wife visiting over half-term, we decided to adventure by looping around North Morocco. From the current capital, Rabat, we traveled east through the Maamora Forest. This ancient woodland, extending 133,000 hectares, is the largest expanse of cork oak internationally. The forest is a valuable resource for Moroccans, providing cork, timber, and acorns. It’s also important for life generally, capturing atmospheric carbon and providing habitat. Some of the more charismatic residents include gazelles, booted eagles, ravens, and Greek tortoises.

The road to Meknes was a gentle incline into an increasingly arid red-beige sandy landscape. Morocco has three historic capitals, and Meknes is relatively less known, having been the capital in the 1600s. Many of the attractions relate to projects initiated by Sultan Moulay Ismail, including his mausoleum, a grain store that could house 12,000 horses, and a prison said to be such a labyrinth that bars and doors weren’t necessary. The city’s vibe was distinctly non-tourist, with the medina (town center) souks (markets) being mainly filled with food and modern items.

With my background in forestry, our next stops at Azrou and Ifrane, high in the Middle Atlas mountains, were spectacular. Growing up to 40 m and with blue-green needles, Atlas cedars are common centerpieces in UK parks and manor gardens; however, Morocco has 80% of their global range.

Nurturing Curiosity:

During his fellowship at the Rabat American School in Morocco, Kris Sales made a profound impact by engaging primary school children in the exploration of local flora and fauna. His interactive lessons ignited a passion for the environment among young learners, fostering curiosity about the natural world. If you’re interested in the meaningful work Science Corps is doing to inspire students and promote STEM education, check out the Science Corps website. Additionally, if you wish to support our mission to enhance STEM education in underserved communities, consider making a donation here.