[Grassroots-l] pilot project working group

[Alexander Todorov]

Edward Cherlin wrote:
> On Feb 3, 2008 11:45 PM, Alexander Todorov <alexx.todorov at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> We (olpc-bg) 've had a discussion on how do we measure success of a
>> pilot. We didn't come to a clear conclusion.
>> One of the proposals was:
>> - measure computer literacy as is done now (for grown ups). That's not
>> applicable to children because they don't need office software skills. A
>> child used to computers will pick up the necessary skill very quickly if
>> needed.
>>
>> - measure achievements in education: how? We don't have a clear idea
>> what exactly to measure because it hasn't been done so(for small
>> children) in the country.
> 
> You need to get the experts involved in your experiment design. Invite
> Alan Kay, Seymour Papert, Jerome Bruner, and Benjamin Mako hill, who
> are in OLPC in one way or another, or close to it, and ask them whom
> else to bring in.
> 
> One line of attack on the problem would be to read the great
> educational researchers such as Maria Montessori and Caleb Gattegno to
> find out how they observed children learning, and how they verified
> the hypotheses they came up with. The education profession has still
> not caught up with their discoveries. Unfortunately, some in the
> profession have turned their advances into a new orthodoxy, complete
> with schisms and anathemas.
> 
> Another line of attack is to ask the children what they are learning
> and how to measure it. They know more than you think, so don't dismiss
> what they say out of hand. But you can't follow blindly what they say
> either.
> 
> Another key question is: What are the children _not_ learning now,
> that they could learn? Such as how to learn a subject on their own.
> 

Greetings Edward,
Thanks for your thoughts. We (olpc-bg) will certainly evaluate those in 
our pilot experiment.

Greetings,
Alexander.