Available Schools

The majority of the inhabitants of Puerto Maldonado come from other parts of Peru, mostly the highlands, and therefore have a limited understanding of the rainforest ecosystem and environmental stewardship. Puerto Maldonado's population boomed starting in the 1960s and 1970s due to rubber and then gold exploration.

In rural villages along the Madre de Dios River, teachers are sent by the Ministry of Education for 1 - 2 years at a time to work in small village schools. They too lack knowledge about the local environment.

Elementary Schools: Staff member, Licia Silva, and student volunteers have created a set of puppets, and travel to elementary schools in Puerto Maldonado as well as rural villages along the Madre de Dios River to present a series of puppet shows related to environmental issues, including the importance of the water, habitats, ecosystems, trash (especially excessive use of plastic) and health and hygiene.

The puppets include a tree, a frog, a butterfly, a sloth, a tapir, a Spider monkey, a peccary, a capybara and a snake. She created the scripts to best reflect local reality and language. The ultimate goal is to instill a love of living creatures and sense of responsibility to care for oneself and one's environment. In the case of the hygiene and health component, she has coordinated activities with local health projects. In addition to the puppet shows, she has created a series of worksheets for elementary school teachers to use with their classes relating to each of these issues.

Secondary Schools: This program is a field-based learning program for secondary students and teachers from the Puerto Maldonado area and rural villages along the Madre de Dios River. Licia works with "Environment, Science and Technology" teachers to arrange field trips for their students to two local field sites with gardens and medicinal plant collections. Before the field trip, she visits the class to talk about the program and motivate the students. She leaves them with some homework, and gives the teacher some tips about inserting this topic into their standard curriculum. The field trips last a full day (7 am until 5 pm) and ACEER offers the transportation and educational content. While on the trip, students use the "De la escuela al jardin" workbork designed by Licia. Typically, she leads eight or more field trips like this each year. Other follow-up activities with the classes include a competition to create herbariums and competitions for art projects using native seeds and materials.

Licia also conducts several teacher training workshops per year. Her most recent workshop for teachers and community leaders was a "Leaf Pack" workshop. A group of 21 participated in the one-day workshop that took place at ATI along the Madre de Dios River, a 45-minute boat ride from the port in Puerto Maldonado. The purpose of the workshop was two-fold: to expose the participants to the river and the rainforest (for many, their first trip on the river and in the forest) and to introduce them to different scientific processes related to stream ecology.

VISIT THE ACEER SCHOOLS IN THE MADRE DE DIOS REGION

Other Schools Currently Being Served by ACEER

Centro Educativeo Tecnico Artesanal Hermosa Grande

Sonene Rolin Bajo Piedras

Licia Silva is a teacher in Puerto Maldonado and has lived in Puerto Maldonado her entire life. Licia's mother is also a teacher. Licia's programs include a puppet show program, "From the School to the Garden" program and teacher training workshops and includes work with elementary school students, secondary school students (ages 12 - 14) and teachers.