In a small church school in the Caribbean nation of Dominican Republic and in a new preschool in the South African province of Limpopo, Clarion University psychology professor Marite Haynes and her students are helping children learn.
With her church, Haynes goes on an annual partnership trip to the Dominican Republic to work with a church there, helping the people learn sustainability. They plan medical mission trips for which Haynes is a translator, and they also help with construction projects, providing materials and helping to get a project started. “We’re there to help them stand on their feet,” Haynes said.
The Dominican Republic church has a school, which sparked an idea for Haynes.
“After my first year I thought that my students could do so much and learn so much,” she said.
Back in Clarion, Haynes invited her child psychology, developmental psychology and cross-cultural psychology students to work on service-learning projects that would accomplish two goals: reinforce what they’re learning in the psychology class and help the Dominican Republic children to learn. For the preschool room, students created educational wall posters and board games such as a memory game and bingo.
“It was about creativity, but it was about it really, really being helpful,” Haynes said.
The middle and high school students are learning English, and for them Haynes’ classes taped books and poems so the children could hear more English. “One group had a singer, so they actually produced a music tape. This year the English students have requested more music,” Haynes said.
Haynes’ students also need to know what’s developmentally and culturally appropriate, making sure song lyrics are appropriate and making sure the images on the board games are ones with which Dominican Republic children are familiar.
“They had to make sure stories they chose were not too American, that they weren’t so ensconced in American culture that the (Dominican Republic) students wouldn’t get them.”
In Limpopo, a different group is learning through Haynes’ students.
“I have a friend at the University of Florida. She got a Fulbright Scholarship, and she started a preschool from scratch at the University of Limpopo,” Haynes said.
For those children, who all are learning English, Haynes’ students also created board games. Because the teachers at Limpopo grew up without games, part of the education has been teaching them how to play the games first. Haynes’ friend, Dr. Darlene DeMarie, taught the instructors.
She photographed the teachers learning and the students playing and shared them with Haynes, who posted them on Clarion University psychology department’s Facebook page.
“The kids at Limpopo just love the board games,” Haynes said. “When they play bingo, they aren’t competitive. They play until everyone has a bingo.”
Part of the creativity for both schools was creating games that were easy to transport. Haynes’ students created the games on paper, then laminated them. Everything is flat, so it doesn’t take much room.
The psychology students work in groups to complete the project, then they write a reflective essay at the end of the project.
“A lot of what they say is that it was so good to do a class project that wasn’t just for a grade, but that actually went to someone and was being used,” Haynes said. “I know they learned a lot about development and cultures.”
“It was really fun doing it,” said Kristie Holland, a senior psychology major from Rural Valley, Pa. “It’s something totally different that I’ve never done before in a class. It was nice that we were doing a project that would be used by children somewhere.”
Haynes plans to return to Dominican Republic in March. Clarion University anthropology professor Dr. Laurie Occhipinti plans to tag along.
“She is going to do research on the group. She studies faith-based organizations and the work they do,” Haynes said. “She’s going to look at the impact we have.”
Haynes attends New Wilmington Presbyterian Church. The congregation works in conjunction with Clen-More Presbyterian Church, New Castle, on the Dominican Republic mission.