Think Tank
Think-Tank Pillar Synopsis: Learn & Disseminate
“A pile of rocks ceases to be a rock pile when somebody contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind.”
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
On our quest for eternal amelioration, we intend to have a scientific approach to our other two pillars (the school and the teacher training) by “Testing, Implementing, Evaluating” to then adapt. We will be able through the Think Tank to share best practices with Institutions around the world and capture the cutting edge ideas. This lab approach also allows us to innovate in the field with a data driven approach.
The Think Tank will be composed of educators as well as people who have mastery in other fields such as technology, health, mindfulness, etc. We intend to create the leaders of the future and we want them to be best equipped for whatever there is to come.
Guiding principles
- Voluntary piloting of new pedagogical approaches, tools, programs, monitoring systems and frameworks, etc.
- Building and improving upon a quality data dashboard and intentional data collection
- Learn to improve (research->design)
- Improve to learn (design->research)
- To improve practices and design within school
- To show results from school to encourage greater adoption of the model
- Improve the system, our thinking, and make R&D practices more replicable
- Act as a model, and improve that model through what we are learning, for what is possible for education research – thoughtful, consensual, and research-to-practice-oriented work
The Think Tank in Action
Think Tank
Research Priorities
They reflect our mission, but are not cast in stone
How to Mitigate Inequities in Education ?
- This is core mission of the Institute
- Examine education policies that facilitate access and retention
- Explore how school-design can foster achievement in underserved communities. Include case studies
- Some of measures that foster gender equality to education will be emphasized
Early Introduction of Foreign & National Languages
- There is clear evidence that best time to learn a language is between 0 and 9yr
- In public schools foreign languages are introduced in high school
- Based on our bilingual school experience and relevant programs outside we will examine what works best under diverse socio economic settings
Adapting Montessori to Local Conditions
- There are growing number Montessori inspired schools in both urban and rural areas in Africa
- We will identify ways of circumventing the cost barriers to adoption
- It is also important to adapt the methodology to the cultural norms foster their synergies
How AI can foster teaching & Learning
- Gen AI is moving fast into the education space
- It is important to focus on its applications most likely to move the needle in Senegal/Africa
- AI could solve the perennial problem of content creation in national languages
Early teaching of civism and Philosophy
- Practical ways of teaching civism in daily child activities
- Philosophy is taught only in the last year of high school. The ground can be prepared much earlier in ways consistent with the child development stage
Building an Entrepreneurship Spirit
- Often our education system is too disconnected from real life experience
- We need to bridge this gap
Combining IB & Senegalese Baccalaureate
- What is best way of designing the schoolcurriculum to combine these twoprograms
- Document effective ways of partneringwith parents and the community tobetter achieve the school missions
