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Goal:
Our goal is to give children the tools they need to explore the world and learn independently of the rote memorization they are accustomed to. We want to empower them with the ability to share what they have learned, teaching their peers and parents the new tools they have acquired and express the ideas they come up with.
Wiki Markup
We are working with the Peace Corps \ [http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.wherepc.africa.mauritania\] \ [and link to wiki page on Peace Corps in Mauritania\] on this initiative. The Peace Corps has been in Mauritania since 1967 and is well received in Bababe. We are also working with Zach Swank, an environmental educator who has worked with the community in Bababe for two years now. He will provide us with an opening into the community, then facilities to store and charge the laptops, and assist us throughout the 10 weeks. Working with him will ensure that the project is well established by the time we leave. He will remain in the area for a year after we leave, ensuring the integration of the XOs into the school curriculum there.
Working with the Peace Corps will ensure sustainability of the project. Our project, if successful, will serve as a pilot for new Peace Corps programs and their further involvement in Mauritanian education.
Our deployment will be set up as a summer program for children in Bababe in Maison de Jeunes, a youth center established by the Ministry of Culture. Based on the information from our local contact, there will be more children interested in the program than we can provide for. Thus, we will choose a diverse group of students in the 5th and 6th grades. In a heavily male dominated education system, we will make sure that we provide equal opportunities to both genders. We will train the volunteers who will be working with us in the first week of deployment. We will also hold workshops throughout the 10 week period for any adults within the community who want to attend in order to increase community involvement in the project.
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The children will learn how to use the XOs through interactive, multi-player games that will show them that they can use the XOs to share information with classmates. They will be encouraged to explore all the features of the laptops and discover for themselves how the laptops work in a supervised setting. Then, they will design projects relating to topics they are interested in. They will work in teams, potentially in collaboration with children participating in our sister deployments in Kaedi, Tdjikja, Kiffa and Kankossa. Using the XOs, they will record what they observe, share the designs and ideas they come up with, and present the results to their peers and parents. We hope that this will foster a collaborative spirit in which students are eager to learn from and teach others.unmigrated-wiki-markup
In addition, we will work with local educational providers and Peace Corps volunteers to design lesson plans for schools that will incorporate the XOs. Keeping the 5th grade public school education curriculum in mind, we will show the children how to take what they have learned and apply it in a new and interesting way. An elementary game they could play: a scavenger hunt for teams of four. \ [link to the following\] There would be a map with the location of the classroom and a destination marked on the board. The first team member would have to type out directions (including distances) in a language they are learning (perhaps English or French) to another child in Chat. The second child would use Record to record oral directions and send the file to the two remaining team members who would follow directions to reach the destination. They would have to use Distance to accomplish the task, measuring the distance between the two XOs to travel the right amount to reach the destination. Other possible ideas include using the XOs to record and share their community history and cultural vibrance. They will be able to express their creativity by writing and sharing stories, artwork, and music.
In short:
In working with children, we hope that they will have positive effects on the community. The beauty of children is that they are often more communicative and willing to share than adults. Their energy and enthusiasm will allow them to be a positive influence in their communities.
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