Amen on the evaluator's feedback, but did it really take an evaluator to bring that to everyone's attention? For everyone who has participated in the past 2 yrs+, I don't think it's news that we've failed to include educators into the fold. By all means, we are all educators in some sense just by participating in this project but we don't have the experience to effectively judge what an effective lesson plan should be. I applaud OLE Nepal for really striving to bring educators into the working group but I really think we need to suspend all application development efforts until we've identified more structure to the educational content to be delivered on the platforms. It needs to be much more than just another "cool" app churned out from a code jam. <br>
<br>How will OLPC's XO supplement a formal curriculum? This needs to go beyond simply supplying a working internet connection. I think we'd all like to see an application and accompanying lesson plan that children will vest interest but also provide an opportunity to let kids run wild with the concepts and integrate their ideas with the rest of the community. I encourage the rest of the application developers to focus on the outline of a lesson plan prior to any software development. Right now projects are being hosted with rough definitions but no educational substance. I implore that as a requirement all developers should post a lesson plan along with the details of their application. This will really encourage those to seek the assistance of educators. We still have time to make this process less backwards with respect to our educational goals. It's one thing to hack 48 straight hours but I question the worth of that code at the end of the Jam. I don't intend to criticize but hopefully help others realign their efforts more closely with the educational goal. <br>
<br>On another note, I've been working on a Health Educational bundle that will include both hardware, software, and hardcopy materials for distribution. I've pitched the idea to OLPC Peru, Thailand, Nepal, and Arjun will be asking India's pilots on my behalf. Here's a snippet of our Introduction and to those who are interested, feel free to email me or the below email to follow-up: <br>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">" </span>OLPC Golden
State strongly believes in the educational mission of the One Laptop Per Child
(OLPC) organization.<span style=""> </span>We not only feel
that it's a great platform to allow children to provide greater access to
information but an opportunity to analyze the information in their environment.<span style=""> </span>The analog-to-digital converter (ADC) input
which is built into the microphone jack is a unique feature that enables the
students to explore and quantify various natural phenomena. OLPC Golden State
realizes the many applications of this sensor interface and has focused on the
health-related focuses, specifically the natural biorhythms in our human body.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""> We've developed this health education bundle and its
hardware peripherals under the assumption that educators and students have no
background in biology.<span style=""> </span>As a result, we've
constructed a wonderful package to give students a thorough introduction of
biology and anatomy and to finish with an understanding of how technology can
be applied to observe the human body. The lesson was constructed to answer some
very basic questions: "What is a vital sign? (What makes me alive?)" <span style=""> </span>A historical perspective is even included to
development of that definition. We've also included two different technical
approaches to answer the same question to demonstrate how technology has
progressed and teach children that there are various ways to resolve the same
problem.<u><span style=""><span style=""> </span></span></u><span style="">We ultimately hope that the students leave this lesson plan with an
answer to that original question and an understanding that everything they do
has an effect on their body but perhaps a better question: "What will it take
to ensure my vital sign stays strong?"<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="">This lesson plan
is age appropriate for 11-18 yr olds.<span style="">
</span>Our lesson plan includes both worksheets to be supplied to the students
for background as well as outlines to guide the instructor's delivery of the
lesson plans.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="">If you require any
HW support or would like to inquire about the procurement of the hardware
accessories to support this lesson plan, please e-mail us at: <a href="mailto:olpc.goldenstate@yahoo.com">olpc.goldenstate@yahoo.com</a>."</span></p>
<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
Message: 1<br>
Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 10:31:35 -0700<br>
From: "Edward Cherlin" <<a href="mailto:echerlin@gmail.com" target="_blank">echerlin@gmail.com</a>><br>
Subject: [OLPC library] Lesson plans needed (was Re: Release 8.2.0 --<br>
pls add critical features (Greg Smith))<br>
To: "Bryan Berry" <<a href="mailto:bryan.berry@gmail.com" target="_blank">bryan.berry@gmail.com</a>>, "Alan Kay"<br>
<<a href="mailto:Alan.Kay@squeakland.org" target="_blank">Alan.Kay@squeakland.org</a>><br>
Cc: OLPC Library list <<a href="mailto:library@lists.laptop.org" target="_blank">library@lists.laptop.org</a>>,<br>
<a href="mailto:its.an.education.project@tema.lo-res.org" target="_blank">its.an.education.project@tema.lo-res.org</a><br>
Message-ID:<br>
<<a href="mailto:e574f6eb0807041031g3b73b0b4q62d000951589994b@mail.gmail.com" target="_blank">e574f6eb0807041031g3b73b0b4q62d000951589994b@mail.gmail.com</a>><br>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8<br>
<br>
On Fri, Jul 4, 2008 at 6:35 AM, Bryan Berry <<a href="mailto:bryan.berry@gmail.com" target="_blank">bryan.berry@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> Greg wrote:<br>
>>Thanks for keeping us apprised of your needs!<br>
><br>
> My pleasure.<br>
...<br>
><br>
> We had two evaluators spend a week at both of our pilot schools and the<br>
> consistent feedback they came back w/ was<br>
> 1) The teachers want lesson plans integrated w/ the activities<br>
<br>
Writing lesson plans needs to be a whole program in itself, integrated<br>
with rethinking textbooks to make use of the available software and to<br>
implement Constructionism, or possibly just creating textbooks within<br>
available software. This is Alan Kay's domain, among others. I haven't<br>
heard of anybody seriously taking up this vital part of the program,<br>
and I haven't even gotten answers to my queries about previous work in<br>
this vein. We need to involve the entire education establishment<br>
(those that are willing, anyway) including Schools of Education, the<br>
Free Software community, teachers' organizations, Ministries of<br>
Education, and SMEs (Subject Matter Experts). A research consortium. I<br>
don't see any reason why we couldn't get it funded at a fairly high<br>
level as soon as we can demonstrate what we are talking about.<br>
<br>
Just as one example, the Measure activity can play a central role in<br>
teaching sciences, health, and music (frequency analysis). I can give<br>
hundreds of similar examples covering every school subject on fairly<br>
short notice. (Yes, _every_ subject including History and PE.)<br>
<br>
> 2) The parents don't see the learning activities as anything more than<br>
> games.<br>
<br>
Has anybody taught any of the programming language tutorials to the children?<br>
<br>
> This was constructive feedback they gave us. I am happy to report that<br>
> the kids, teachers, and parents were overwhelmingly positive about this<br>
> project.<br>
><br>
> We need a way to seamlessly integrate supporting materials such as<br>
> readings, lesson plans, together with activities. HTML is the way to do<br>
> this and the browser is what we use to display html. URI's are what we<br>
> use to link to different resources.<br>
><br>
> We may end up hacking Browse esp. to allow this because of the immense<br>
> demand.<br>
><br>
> We need to make it dead simple for teachers to use activities like<br>
> EToys, E-Paath, Measure in the classroom. The easiest way to do this is<br>
> to make the transition from lesson plan to activity as easy as possible.<br>
...<br>
> Bryan<br>
> Kathmandu<br>
><br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
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><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
Edward Cherlin<br>
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business<br>
<a href="http://www.EarthTreasury.org/" target="_blank">http://www.EarthTreasury.org/</a><br>
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay<br>
<br>
<br></blockquote></div><br>