ABCU Computer Project
September 24, 2011
Dear All,
To the right are pictures from the ABCU Instructional Technology student project1. The hypothesis underlying the project is that children can self-organize and self-discover and a teacher is not always needed. To test this a computer is placed where children can access it and the students keep track of the results. ABCU students are not allowed to give the children any instruction on how to use the computer or how to organize themselves. According to ABCU faculty member, Vicki Kloosterhouse, "It has been going great, the ABCU students are learning a lot and are very excited about the project. The students were divided into committees, required to read the research, and then develop a protocol for the experiment. They are making the decisions and I only do a little prompting when I deem necessary."
"It has been fascinating for ABCU students to see how children will self-organize themselves and do self-discovery. One of the things they are recording is what the students name the parts of the computer. We have attached a mouse to the laptop and one of the things they have called the mouse is a controller (pretty good), but some of the children call it a "scratcher" b/c of the scratching sound it makes over the table (creative). You would be fascinated what these children already can do on a computer when this is the first time they have ever seen and/or touched a computer. The other day they were so excited because we downloaded pictures of them. Of course, through self-discovery they were able to find the pictures and they were so amazed to see themselves. This week we will have African music on the computer and also some video of them."
"Who knows, maybe one of these days one of these children will own a computer company in Liberia or be a computer engineer, because our ABCU students reached out to the community. God has blessed us so much and we are so happy to be able to work on this project together. Please pray with me that the computer holds out for 5 weeks without anything happening to it b/c I am not computer guru and I don't know if I or anyone on campus could fix it if there is a problem."
Dear All,
To the right are pictures from the ABCU Instructional Technology student project1. The hypothesis underlying the project is that children can self-organize and self-discover and a teacher is not always needed. To test this a computer is placed where children can access it and the students keep track of the results. ABCU students are not allowed to give the children any instruction on how to use the computer or how to organize themselves. According to ABCU faculty member, Vicki Kloosterhouse, "It has been going great, the ABCU students are learning a lot and are very excited about the project. The students were divided into committees, required to read the research, and then develop a protocol for the experiment. They are making the decisions and I only do a little prompting when I deem necessary."
Basic Facts About the Experiment:
- Duration: 5 weeks, Monday to Friday, 3:30-5:30 pm.
- Participation: Aproximately 40 children each day. Some are new and and others have been exposed to the project on previous days.
- Equipment: laptop, flip cam, camera, a data collection sheet, a lock for the computer
"It has been fascinating for ABCU students to see how children will self-organize themselves and do self-discovery. One of the things they are recording is what the students name the parts of the computer. We have attached a mouse to the laptop and one of the things they have called the mouse is a controller (pretty good), but some of the children call it a "scratcher" b/c of the scratching sound it makes over the table (creative). You would be fascinated what these children already can do on a computer when this is the first time they have ever seen and/or touched a computer. The other day they were so excited because we downloaded pictures of them. Of course, through self-discovery they were able to find the pictures and they were so amazed to see themselves. This week we will have African music on the computer and also some video of them."
"Who knows, maybe one of these days one of these children will own a computer company in Liberia or be a computer engineer, because our ABCU students reached out to the community. God has blessed us so much and we are so happy to be able to work on this project together. Please pray with me that the computer holds out for 5 weeks without anything happening to it b/c I am not computer guru and I don't know if I or anyone on campus could fix it if there is a problem."
1The original project was by Dr. Sagata Mitra from India and we are doing our own version of it.
All quotes from Vicki Kloosterhouse.