OLPCorps Dickinson Ghana

Team Members

Name	College	Year	Header 4
Jeremy Pesner	Dickinson College	2009	Project Manager and Co-Software Engineer
Jennifer Strater	Hamilton College	2010	Quality Control and Co-Software Engineer

Who, What, When, Where?

Laptops will be distributed to 100 primary school (6-12 year-old) children at the Somey National School in Agbozume, Ghana. The program will last from the end of orientation in Rwanda until our return to the US in mid August (based on travel arrangements/availability). The children are in school during June and July. August will be spent making the transition to the Elikplim Foundation. English is the primary language in Ghana and for the school. Therefore, there should not be a language barrier.

Our Goal

Educational gaming has shown to improve test scores and enhance learning (Schmidt and Vandewater, 2008). By attracting greater attention than traditional lecture methods of education, computer games may be a way to enhance motivation in school aged children and adolescents. Significant improvements in learning have been observed for many different subjects when computer games were used to supplement classroom instruction including learning languages (Purushotma, 2005) and geography (Tuzun, Yilmaz-Soylu, Karakus, Inal, and Kizilkaya, 2009).

    By providing 100 school aged children with laptops, they gain an advantage over their peers. *currently editing/writing. will be added momentarily*

References

Purushotma, R. Commentary: You’re Not Studying, You’re Just... Language Learning & Technology. 9(1): 80-96. Jan 2005. Link to Article[1]
Schmidt, M.E., Vandewater, E.A. Media and Attention, Cognition, and School Achievement. The Future of Children. 18(1): 63-85. Spring 2008. Link to Article[2]
Tuzun, H., Yilmaz-soylu, M., Karakus, T., Inal, Y., Kizilkaya, G. The effects of computer games on primary school students’ achievement and motivation in geography learning. Computers and Education. 52: 68-77. 2009. Link to Article[3]

Local Organizations

Somey National School
Agbozume
Volta Region
Ghana
Elikplim Foundation[4]
Agbozume
Volta Region
Ghana