KaSaMa Teachers Community Wins 2023 Gawad Tsanselor sa Natatanging Programang Pang-Ekstensiyon

KaSaMa Teachers Community (KTC), an extension program of UP NISMED, was awarded the 2023 Gawad Tsanselor sa Natatanging Programang Pang-ekstensiyon in the non-degree-granting unit category during the awards ceremony held at the University Theater on 23 June 2023. The award citation read by Dr. Carl Michael F. Odulio, Vice Chancellor for Research and Development, recognizes the support initiatives that KTC provided to science and mathematics teachers when they transitioned to remote teaching and learning at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. For its contributions to education, KTC also bagged the first Parangal Para sa Programang Pang-Ekstensiyon in 2016. In the following year, it was a finalist in the systemwide UP Gawad Pangulo for Excellence in Public Service.

Ms. Celia R. Balbin (second from right), the KaSaMa Teachers Community program leader, receives the 2023 Gawad Tsanselor para sa Natatanging Programang Pang-ekstensiyon with UP Diliman Chancellor Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan (extreme right), UP NISMED Director Sheryl Lyn C. Monterola (center), and KaSaMa Teachers Community Pangkat NISMED core team members, Mr. Michael Anthony B. Mantala (second from left), and Mr. John Alex M. Reyroso.

As an immediate response to the disruption brought about by the pandemic, KaSaMa Teachers Community conducted a host of webinars that introduced pedagogical strategies and resources to teachers. These have helped them to better implement effective and engaging online lessons, as well as navigate and overcome the challenges of remote teaching and learning. The KTC website has also served as a helpful go-to place where teachers can freely ask questions and share experiences and advice related to remote teaching and learning.

Since its establishment in 2011, KaSaMa Teachers Community continues to bring UP NISMED expertise to Filipino science and mathematics teachers through professional development programs in STEM, the dissemination of science and mathematics education information and resources, and the promotion of science teaching through inquiry and mathematics teaching through problem solving. For over a decade, KTC has showcased how bayanihan can help teachers hurdle even the most pressing of challenges, whether it be a transition to a new curriculum, a transition to remote teaching and learning, or any other such challenges that are yet to come.

KaSaMa, which in Filipino means “companion,” “partner,” and “collaborator,” is coined from the terms Ka-Science and Ka-Mathematics. KTC is a community led by the Pangkat NISMED core team and the KaBayanihan core team. The former consists of science education specialists and associates from UP NISMED while the latter consists of the Pangkat NISMED core team and teacher volunteers from different parts of the Philippines and from Bahrain.