OLPC Pakistan: Karachi-Rehnuma Public School - Collaborative Learning and Peer to Peer Teaching
The OLPC project at Rehnuma Public School Karachi Pakistan
The OLPC project at http://olpckarachipakistan.wordpress.com Rehnuma Public School Karachi Pakistan] was initiated by Talat Khan and some of her Friends in San Francisco. The school was founded by Kishwer Aziz and her husband Aslam Aziz.
About Talat Khan
Talat Khan taught Chemistry at P.E.C.H.S. College for Women in Karachi, Pakistan, for 13 years. When she moved from Pakistan to the United States, she continued teaching Chemistry in San Francisco, California, until she retired in 2009. Talat knew someday she would be able to return to her country and take what she had learned to enrich the lives of the many children in her native Pakistan. But she was not sure how her vision was going to unfold until she visited Pakistan in 2007. Talat was made aware of a K-5th grade school for poor children in Karachi, called Rehnuma Public School, that needed funds to extend its program to include a 6th grade. She knew in her heart that she was brought to this school because she had the knowledge and experience needed to continue their educational growth. Talat adopted the school and got to work! Over the next three years, the school’s program has grown and currently serves K-8th grade, with a 9th grade curriculum beginning in 2011.
Project Objectives
Following are the Project Objectives for the 6th grade class consisting of 22 students at the Rehnuma Public School, 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.