[Its.an.education.project] Sugar on the EEE PC

[K. K. Subramaniam]

On Saturday 10 May 2008 5:07:22 am Jim Gettys wrote:
> 1:1 is really *very* important, for many reasons, not the least of which
> is the following:
>
> If a teacher cannot *rely* on a child having access to a computer for
> teaching their class and/or homework, you are, in essence, asking them
> to greatly *increase* their work-load,
Isn't this all-or-nothing stance an extreme viewpoint? There are issues in the 
current teaching practices and many teachers do acknowledge their 
limitations. So why not use laptops (shared) to tackle some of these issues? 
It may not be perfect solution but solving some is better than solving none.

For instance, Stellarium can be used affordably by teachers around the world. 
I know of teachers who use Stellarium to teach children about celestial 
bodies. They find the digital medium much easier than blackboard or models. 
The kids then use their notes to explore night sky on their own (no worries 
about running out of battery :-)). Children fascinated by night sky start 
taking a deeper interest in schooling. Ever wondered why a circle is marked 
as 360 degrees and not 100?

BTW, I was just exploring the occultation of Mars by Moon with my daughter a 
while back. The real sky got obscured by clouds :-(.

Subbu