The Teaching Biology Project (TBP)

The Teaching Biology Project, part of the Africa Genome Education Institute, is funded by the Royal Embassy of the Netherlands. TBP runs in-service workshops in Evolutionary Biology to Life Science teachers in the Western Cape. We shall be running  three in- service teacher training workshops in evolutionary biology  per year from 2009 -2012, in the march, July and September school holidays.  Each workshop is limited to fifty teachers and runs for four days.  The aim of each workshop is to improve teachers’ knowledge of evolutionary biology, to allow them to network with teachers from a range of schools, develop resource materials in collaboration with other teachers and to conduct practical assessment tasks that they can do to their own classrooms. We would like teachers to develop their ICT (information computer technology) skills, thus delegates will have access to computer laboratories and assistance and be required to put together lesson plans and assessment tasks using ICT.  Teachers are divided into small groups each lead by a small group leader who in addition to being an experienced teacher will have attended a prior TBP workshop.  Each four day workshop follows a similar format and we change each conference to suit the needs of teachers.

Based in Cape Town, the Africa Genome Education Institute (AGEI) is devoted to the public understanding of genomes and their implications for health, technology, education and social ethics. We house two projects (1) during the bicenteniary of Charles Darwin’s birth in 2009, the Darwin200 celebrations consisting of public lectures, the Darwin Trails at the Cape and an exhibition and (2) the training – in evolutionary biology - of the biology teachers of the Western Cape’s secondary schools, a multi-year project spanning 2009-2012 in partnership with a major European government and the Western Cape Education Department. 

The AGEI has at full complement, a staff of six. Current donors are British Council, Ford Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation & the Royal Netherlands Embassy. Past donors include: Ancestry24.com, Brimstone Investments, Department of Science & Technology, Department of Trade & Industry, Grape Company of Paarl, HCI/Golden Arrow Foundation, Human Sciences Research Council (founding grant), Innogen (Open University, U.K.), Liberty Life, Media24, Nelson Mandela Foundation, Sanlam, Santam, Shell, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation, Medical Research Council, Vodacom, Department of Health (Western Cape) & WK Kellogg Foundation (founding grant).  

If you would like more information about the Teaching Biology Project workshops please contact Cheryl Douglas, Program Manager: cdouglas@bishops.org.za or tbp@agei.co.za.  

What is AGEI?

Based in Cape Town, the Africa Genome Education Institute (AGEI) is devoted to the public understanding of genomes and their implications for health, technology, education and  social ethics. We house two projects (1) during the bicenteniary of Charles Darwin’s birth in 2009, the Darwin200 celebrations consisting of public lectures, the Darwin Trails at the Cape and an exhibition and (2) the training – in evolutionary biology - of the biology teachers of the Western Cape’s secondary schools, a multi-year project spanning 2009-2012 in partnership with a major European government and the Western Cape Education Department. 

We also, on behalf of the Economic Justice Initiative (a joint project of Professor Jakes Gerwel & Professor Wilmot James), manage Difficult Dialogues, a series of public conversations on the compelling and often unspoken difficulties South Africa faces at this time in its history, including issues such as dealing with the consequences of climate change, the reduction of emissions and the carbon footprint of citizens and institutions. 

A partnership project with the University of Cape Town’s Division of Human Genetics, the AGEI hosts the Darwin Seminars which are publicly accessible lectures on compelling issues in evolutionary biology, such as for example the one by Dr Barry Schoub given on the mutation possibilities of the bird flu H5N1 virus. With the Nelson Mandela Foundation, we organise the annual Nelson Mandela Science Lecture. The 2007 lecture was given by Nobel Laureate David Baltimore of the California Institute of Technology on viruses. The 2008 Lecture will be given by Dr Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum of London on human origins, this particular event in association with the Open University of U.K. also. 

The AGEI has an annual budget of about R4million and, at full complement, a staff of six. Current donors are British Council, Ford Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation & the Royal Netherlands Embassy. Past donors include: Ancestry24.com, Brimstone Investments, Department of Science & Technology, Department of Trade & Industry, Grape Company of Paarl, HCI/Golden Arrow Foundation, Human Sciences Research Council (founding grant), Innogen (Open University, U.K.), Liberty Life, Media24, Nelson Mandela Foundation, Sanlam, Santam, Shell, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation, Medical Research Council, Vodacom, Department of Health (Western Cape) & WK Kellogg Foundation (founding grant).