The second half of my trip, here in Port Elizabeth, I have been working with the university which has a substantial project placing computers in impoverished schools. In South Africa not only is there a national curriculum, there is a national sequence of topics. That means everyone is teaching how to solve linear equations at the same time across the country. Many poor and rural schools lack qualified teachers, especially in math and science. It makes sense to take advantage of technology to help fill the gap. That might mean watching a video, a live internet broadcast lesson, or using interactive software. Is a computer as good as a teacher? Nope. But it is a lot better than no teacher. The best is a combination of both.
Several people have asked what I'm doing (aside from the beach). I guess you could say the theme of this venture is, "Technology and Education." The first half of my trip I was visiting schools that are doing innovative things with math and technology, particularly with a view towards developing a partnership between South African and Ithaca High School students. I think I've made good progress on that front. The second half of my trip, here in Port Elizabeth, I have been working with the university which has a substantial project placing computers in impoverished schools. In South Africa not only is there a national curriculum, there is a national sequence of topics. That means everyone is teaching how to solve linear equations at the same time across the country. Many poor and rural schools lack qualified teachers, especially in math and science. It makes sense to take advantage of technology to help fill the gap. That might mean watching a video, a live internet broadcast lesson, or using interactive software. Is a computer as good as a teacher? Nope. But it is a lot better than no teacher. The best is a combination of both. I spend a lot of time at one particular school, Sandisulwazi, which has not had a math teacher for more than a year. This is rural poverty at its worst. You never escape this life if you don't get a high school degree, you don't get a degree if you don't pass a major math exam at the end of senior year, and without a math teacher the odds of passing are pretty low. The school is so impoverished that they don't have enough furniture for the rooms. (The five broken desks you see in the photo are all there is for a class of 30, most of whom sit on the floor). I have to bring my own chalk, because there isn't any at the school. There are not enough books for the students, and most of them don't have calculators (and yet they still have to learn trigonometry and logarithms). The thing is, there are a lot students in this school who have outstanding ability and motivation. But thanks to this project, they do have a functioning computer lab with internet access. (It's also the only room with enough chairs.) So on days when I'm not there I can give them assignments to watch videos on specific lessons and to do problems with online software. It doesn't replace a full time teacher, but it keeps them in the game.
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