The STEM Challenge is an annual game contest organized by E-Line Media, and sponsored by the AMD Foundation, Xbox, PBS, and the Entertainment Software Association. Â It invites students from middle school to university to design games focused on math, science, engineering and other technology.
Games can be built on most any open platform, and can be submitted from now until March 12, 2012.
Last week twenty volunteers joined the OLPC Asia team to return to the OLPC pilot school in Sichuan. OLPC donated 1000 XOs to children and teachers at the school, which supports students whose schools were destroyed by the 2008 earthquake. The visitors spent a few days at the school, meeting with the school community and helping them update and repair their machines. Here’s a snapshot of them at work:
In a quick 6-minute video, Charbax tests out the latest XO-1.75 prototype, while walking around outdoors in San Francisco.
Post via Silvia Kist
Seymour’s Papert ideas are a source of inspiration for many teachers and researchers in Brazil and had a big impact on how the country’s computer lab program was shaped in the past. One Laptop Per Child brought to life Papert’s vision for a Children’s Machine, and also inspired many teachers and academics in the country.
Because of this history, the strongest characteristic of the OLPC project in Brazil is the involvement of universities researching how laptops can create powerful educational experiences, and promote cultural change around learning. Many research labs from Brazil’s top universities are working with OLPC in this challenge, and have developed field studies: including LEC/UFRGS, NIED/UNICAMP, LSI/USP, CERTI/UFSC, UFC.
One of the first investigations in Brazil, was conducted under the supervision of Prof. Léa Fagundes. It studied how the XO impacted the reading and writing learning process of 6 year old children in a public elementary school at Porto Alegre. The full study was published in Portuguese. A summary:
They hypothesized that each child having their own laptop would change the practices of reading and writing by students, impacting how they create concepts about the written language. Student practices were observed and analyzed in two ways: practices proposed by the teacher and things that students did spontaneously.
After 7 months of observations, the research concluded that daily use of networked laptops allows children to use writing and reading in real life situations, differently from artificial activities in school. This kind of usage builds a symbolic environment helpful for understanding the function and meaning of written language (fluency) and leads to a conceptualization process driven by the need to understand others (literacy). In the class that was analyzed, the teacher’s proposals and some other conditions were necessary for that to happen. Project work, laptop ownership by students, connection to the Internet, and the use of a virtual learning environment were among them.
Since Pixel Qi, our display manufacturer, announced the recent investment in their work by 3M, that connection has made a few headlines. 3M has noted that “the vision of ubiquitous displays comes much closer to realization.”
Since then Pixel Qi have partnered with All American, a global distributor, and with ShiZhu Technology, who are designing a family of four tablets around Qi screens.
I hope this means new lineups and screen sizes will come more easily. I am looking forward to seeing this display tech become standard in handhelds and laptops of all sizes. And I’m also looking forward to the latest screen designs in the new XOs — it seems the already low power draw has dropped by half again.
Sridhar Dhanapalan is giving a talk next week about OLPC Australia, pitching it as “Australia’s toughest Linux deployment“. Â It certainly is that. Â He notes their aim to reach each of the 300,000 children and teachers in remote parts of Australia, over the next three years.
From his abstract:
OLPC AusÂtralia aims to creÂate a susÂtainÂable and comÂpreÂhensÂive proÂgramme to enhance opporÂtunÂitÂies for every child in remote AusÂtralia… by 2014.
[T]he most remote areas of the conÂtinÂent are typÂicÂally not ecoÂnomÂicÂally viable for a busiÂness to serÂvice, hence the need for a not-for-profit in the space.Â
This talk will outÂline how OLPC AusÂtralia has developed a soluÂtion to suit AusÂtralian scenÂarios. ComÂparÂisÂons and conÂtrasts will be made with other “comÂputers in schools†proÂgrammes, OLPC deployÂments around the world and corÂporÂate IT projects.
By proÂmotÂing flexÂibÂilÂity and ease of use, the proÂgramme can achieve susÂtainÂabÂilÂity by enabling manÂageÂment at the grass-roots level. The XO laptops themÂselves are… repairÂable in the field, with minÂimal skill required. TrainÂing is conÂducÂted online, and an online comÂmunity allows parÂtiÂcipants nationÂwide to share resources.
Key to the ongoÂing sucÂcess of the proÂgramme is actÂive engageÂment with all stakeÂholdÂers, and a recogÂniÂtion of the total cost of ownÂerÂship over a five-year life cycle.