OLPC Pakistan: Karachi-Rehnuma Public School - Collaborative Learning and Peer to Peer Teaching
Project Objectives
Following are the Project Objectives for the 6th grade class consisting of 22 students at the Rehnuma Public School, http://patheducation.org Karachi, Pakistan:
Our objective is to demonstrate not only that OLPC laptops can greatly enhance education in a neighborhood school for poor children, but to test a new plan providing education using OLPC computers, by assigning three students per computer. The students will be on a sixth grade level. Children will be grouped into groups of three, called trios, by their teacher. Each trio should have a child identified by the teacher from the high, low and middle level of accomplishment. The children's tasks will be shared, hopefully with the higher level children teaching the lower level children as well as acquiring the skills of sharing, teaching, articulating, which will further advance their own skills.
Each of the children can take turns bringing their one shared computer home but only if the security situation is improved and the teachers and administrator are confident that taking the laptop home will not endanger the child, their family or the laptop.
If they cannot take the laptops home, each child will have a turn doing individual investigation on the computer after school, at least one day a week. Each child and teacher will also be provided a Thumb Drive for keeping their own personal information and work.
Subjects covered will be the disciplines: Math, Science, Urdu and English Literature and Social Studies.
Children will have the opportunity to work on several different activities that build upon each other.
The Teacher will have her own computer, which will allow her to assign lessons to each student.
Projects would be discussed in class through presentations using the laptop, as well as posters, demonstrations, reports, worksheets, models and graphs.
Each trio of three students will receive a single grade on their progress and completion. A final exam of all material covered will be administered to the students individually, which will indicate their personal level of achievement and understanding of the projects, and will be recorded for the program.
Documentation of student progress will be recorded and used as a tool to help the Teachers improve the grade level curriculum and maximize the student’s learning potential.
Plan and Procedure for Achieving the Stated Objectives:
The OLPC laptops will be used both as a tool to support the school’s curriculum and to give the children the opportunity for independent investigation and learning. Internet access at this level will not be necessary. Each computer will be downloaded into memory with video lessons from the Khan Academy, in Urdu (where available) and English for subjects like English, Math, Science, and Social Studies.
The OLPC laptop will also be equipped with tools to assist the children with problem solving: calculators, scientific calculators, maps, graphs, formulas, equations, scientific and other data, related independent learning videos, and other software programs that support the curriculum.
The Teacher will guide and support independent learning of the lessons/curriculum.
In addition, appropriate games will be downloaded for the creative development of the students.
The OLPC laptops will be used both as a tool to support the school’s curriculum and to give the children the opportunity for independent investigation and learning. Internet access at this level will not be necessary. Each computer will be downloaded into memory with video lessons from the Khan Academy, in Urdu (where available) and English for subjects like English, Math, Science, and Social Studies.
The OLPC laptop will also be equipped with tools to assist the children with problem solving: calculators, scientific calculators, maps, graphs, formulas, equations, scientific and other data, related independent learning videos, and other software programs that support the curriculum.
The Teacher will guide and support independent learning of the lessons/curriculum.
In addition, appropriate games will be downloaded for the creative development of the students.
