Alex Dragon, Middle School Science teacher, with students from Jonathan Maara Primary School in Limuru, Kenya.

During the summer of 2023, Falk Middle School Science teacher Alex Dragon traveled to Kenya for one month as part of a group of University of Pittsburgh faculty trip aimed at fostering collaborations with Kenyan educators.

The group was part of a Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad grant won by Dr. Maureen Porter, Associate Professor of Educational Foundations, Organizations, and Policy in the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education. Dr. Porter’s grant was titled “Cultures of Innovation: The Productive Intersections of Social Sciences and STEAM in Kenya.”

The trip included 14 participants and was co-led by Dr. Porter and Dr. Filipo Lubua, Swahili Program Coordinator in Pitt’s Department of Linguistics. Mr. Dragon and his fellow group members toured several schools in the country, including K-12 and university schools in settings that ranged from urban and well-resourced to smaller schools in rural villages. The group also enjoyed a number of cultural experiences during their stay, including feeding giraffes and taking in a dance performance by members of indigenous tribes.

Members of the Fulbright-Hays trip to Kenya pose at the Mogotio Equator Crossing.

“The purpose of the trip was for us to go around and learn about Kenya’s education system and different cool projects and innovations there so that we’re learning the reality on the ground,” says Mr. Dragon, “and coming back as better representatives of the actual country, rather than repeating the same images of poverty that are often perpetuated in our media.”

In addition to fostering collaboration between tour members and Kenyan educators, the trip was intended to spark even deeper engagement with Kenya’s culture and educational system among educators on the trip and those they interact with back at home, such as Mr. Dragon’s colleagues at Falk.

One of the terms of the project, Dragon says, was that participants would develop a curriculum based on their experiences in Kenya.

“The criteria were that we were not supposed to go with an idea in mind,” says Mr. Dragon, “but look around and think about what you’re seeing, and notice what draws you.”

He became interested in the use of native plants for medicinal purposes and conducted research in university libraries in Kenya. Upon his return, Mr. Dragon continued to research the topic and worked with colleagues from the trip to create a curriculum on the uses and history of a number of plants native to Kenya.

A group explores the Kakamega Forest during the summer 2023 trip.

The lessons introduce students to ethnobotany, the study of the interrelationships between humans and plants, highlighting plants and plant families that are used for similar purposes across cultures.

“The curriculum defines ethnobotany and it talks about connections to food security and food systems,” Mr. Dragon says. “It defines ‘indigenous knowledge’ and gives some examples of indigenous knowledge of the plants around us.”

The curricula created by educators on the trip have been uploaded to a database that will be accessible to a widespread network of teachers. Keeping that in mind, Mr. Dragon and his collaborators built into the curriculum enough flexibility to allow other educators to adapt the lessons to fit their specific contexts.

He prepared slides that gave a big-picture overview of Kenya, incorporating everything from the geography, climate, ecosystem, and political divisions.

“The idea is to then compare Pennsylvania, or whatever the teacher’s locality is, to Kenya,” he says.

Such a comparison may include a look at where our information on plants and their uses comes from. Who are the keepers of this information, and how has it been passed on to us? In Kenya, indigenous leaders and communities have preserved this knowledge, but a teacher in an American school might bring in a local indigenous leader or community member to talk about how they use native plants. Mr. Dragon sees the potential for a comparative research project that asks students to talk with family and other community members to ask about their uses of plants and whether this knowledge was passed on from their relatives.

Members of the Maasai tribe show participants in the Fulbright-Hays trip traditional dances on the Maasai Mara National Reserve. During the group's visit, the Maasai provided a tour of their village, demonstrating things like home construction and how members of the tribe start fire. Above, a few members of the Fulbright-Hays group have joined the dance.

“Or you could find a plant in the local environment and connect it to one in Kenya,” Mr. Dragon adds, whether the similarity is based on a shared biological ancestor or how the plants are used today.

The curriculum Mr. Dragon and his colleagues created lends itself to connections with different kinds of content, from nature journaling in the visual arts to social-studies explorations of political and tribal histories.

“For me in science, I’m thinking evolutionarily: ‘Why are plants making molecules that affect animals?’” Mr. Dragon asks.

He will continue to refine the curriculum for use in his classes at Falk, and anticipates implementing it in the coming school year.

Along with the curriculum and the incredible experience afforded by the Fulbright trip, Mr. Dragon points to how the trip has helped him continue to broaden his thinking as another benefit of the summer experience in Kenya.

“Western science is not the only valid lens for understanding and learning about the world,” says Mr. Dragon. “Indigenous knowledge has been around for hundreds and thousands of years and has been passed down. There’s importance and validity to preserving that and Western science is still learning from that.”