The World Banks Economic Development Institute in collaboration with the National Science Foundation and the Center for Children and Technology will be hosting two collaborative workshops for educators from the United States and Latin America. Teachers and administrators from Latin American countries have been participating in the World Links for Development Program (WorLD) linking students and teachers with participants from other countries that have successfully implemented telecommunications projects. These anchor workshops will be an opportunity to: * work with experts in the field to understand the context for their work, the kinds of teaching practices that have thus far proved most effective, and problem solving techniques; gain in-depth knowledge of the kinds of projects and pedagogical practices that they could implement when teachers return to their schools in the fall; * plan for collaborative working among secondary school teachers from the US and Latin American countries, and identify specific planning for teacher-partnerships for the school year; * consider questions of context and culture, how the projects may need to be refined to take this into account, and how it might affect telecommunications-enhance learning. Upon return to the schools, teachers will implement collaborative projects they have chosen and refined with cross-national partners at the workshops. Data will be collected through the research component of the project to probe the process of implementation, problems that may arise, effects of participation on teachers and students and cultural factors that may affect implementation.
