Outreach

Mission

CLAIS Outreach is part of The Programs in International Educational Resources (PIER) of The MacMillan Center, which draws upon Yale University’s extensive resources to develop and implement programs, services, and resources to advance understanding of international and world regional issues through outreach to education, business, media, and the public.

Our mission is to enhance and promote an open and critical understanding of the socio-economic, political and cultural changes and continuities that define Latin American societies. From a multidisciplinary perspective, our purpose is to engage the interests, knowledge and practices of educators who teach about Latin America at all levels with those of researchers, policy-makers and grass-roots activists, who are also pursuing a deeper understanding of the diverse societies and identities of Latin America within local, regional and worldwide developments. It is important to learn about other cultures, especially Latin American cultures, in order to enhance our understanding of historical developments through multiple forms of education. Achieving this goal, international education, and specifically education about Latin America, will enable students of all ages to critically address and participate in dialogues and decision-making aimed at better defining the dynamics and changes brought by an era of globalization, new technological and economic developments, transnational arrangements, and vast and rapid information and migration patterns that have resulted in new multi-cultural social realities. In short, learning about Latin America and other world regions will allow today’s youth to be better equipped with the tools and skills needed in order to be active and productive global citizens.  

Objectives

“To teach is not to transfer knowledge, but to create the possibilities for its own production or construction” (Paulo Freire, Pedagogía de la Autonomía, 1996). Educators participating in our programs will develop and strengthen their content knowledge of Latin America in ways that will allow them to critically appropriate, reflect and construct for educational purposes, information, resources and knowledge about this region. By enhancing their content knowledge and building on their own educational experience, educators should also be enabled to propose and examine pedagogical approaches that further develop their curriculum: that is, what is learned and what is taught in a subject (context); how it is delivered (teaching-learning methods/styles); how it is assessed; and the resources and instructional materials used - therefore, mediating and recreating content knowledge about Latin America in ways that are accessible, interesting, and challenging to diverse student populations.

Programs

Programs in International Educational Resources (PIER)
To learn about outreach for more world areas, please visit:
pier.macmillan.yale.edu

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education through a Title VI National Resource Center Grant.