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). Games are thought to enhance education by their ability to motivate children. Interactive games are shown to attract greater attention than traditional lecture methods of education in school aged and adolescent children (Schmidt and Wandewater, 2008). 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).
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