We had 4 students come to both the morning and afternoon classes today, an increase of one and two students, respectively. The kids seem to be getting the hang of working on the Khan Academy, and they are beginning to need less help from the teachers, at least in navigating the website. Their learning is becoming more focused as they engage with the program, which in turn helps us teachers understand where the students are having difficulties and help them out. In the afternoon, Cindy Jackson, a middle school math teacher who has worked with the Khan Academy in the United States, gave a presentation to the teachers on how to best engage with the students. With the anticipation of more students next week and a limited number of computers, Ms. Jackson gave suggestions for math games and exercises to play outside of class that would reinforce the material students were learning with Khan Academy. She also spoke about the rote style of education in both the States and Bolivia, and about how we could teach our students in a way that emphasized understanding over simple memorization. Ms. Jackson showed a paper-folding exercise that worked as a visual learning tool for fractions, a subject with which her students have particular trouble. The program is picking up speed and as both the students and teachers become familiar with the classroom and Khan Academy. We are excited for the next steps in this program as more students arrive and learning progresses.
IP
Friday, June 28, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Day 3 June 26
Day 3
June 26
Today we had an increase in the number of students from the two we had on Monday now we have four for the morning class and from zero we went up to one in the afternoon class. The classes are going well but we have been running into problems when we try to register the students with Facebook. It keeps telling us that the page is having issues. For this reason we are having to make the students Gmail accounts to be able to access the academy. But all in all it seems to be going smoothly.
EWA
Day 3
Today Ian and I (Elahdio) went on a trip to one of the communities where many of the students come from. This community is called Arani and is about an hour and a half out of town. The reason for our journey was to film both a Bolivian elementary school and high school. While we were filming we were surprised that the directors and teachers of these schools were eager to grant us interviews. Thanks to this we discovered a different view point of Bolivian education. Most of the students that attend this program say that one of the reasons they don't understand a specific subject is because their teachers don't explain it well, and the teacher does not spend enough one on one time to help them with their difficulties.
However yesterday we also leaned about the difficulties Bolivian teachers face. In the elementary school of "Socrates G Torrico", there are 200 students from preschool to 6th grade while there are only 13 teachers. In the secondary school of "Nemesio A Mariscal" there are 700 students from 7th to 12th grade. Every teacher we interview was overwhelmed because they have to teach four different grade levels of approximately 30-35 students per day, they are poorly paid by the government, and they are not granted sufficient materials or support to teach properly.We asked different teachers what subjects most students struggle with, and every teacher answered the same thing - math. Professor Nivardo Rojas Rioja from Nemesio A Mariscal secondary school said in his interview that "Not all students are in the same math level, 20% of kids from 7th-8th have problems with adding and subtracting, and a number of students in 9th-12th have problems with fractions." Not learning this material correctly in their early education accumulates and hinders students trying to learn new material. State schools in the provinces lag behind state schools in the cities because of a number of reasons that can not only be contributed to the lack of teaching material or teacher to student ratio.
Province schools also face lack of parental support because most kids are left by themselves. This is because their parents are working in a different country. Many of the parents migrate to Spain, Argentina, Italy and various other countries looking for work. The lack of parental presence leads to these children being left alone. Among the problems they face is that they are malnourished. In school the students also face a language barrier because Spanish is not their first language. Many of the interviewed teachers thought that a complementary math program would definitely help students understand the subject better. Hopefully the pilot program we are trying can accomplish this, and possibly lead to the implementation of the Khan Academy's curriculum in Bolivian State schools.
EA & IP
June 26
Today we had an increase in the number of students from the two we had on Monday now we have four for the morning class and from zero we went up to one in the afternoon class. The classes are going well but we have been running into problems when we try to register the students with Facebook. It keeps telling us that the page is having issues. For this reason we are having to make the students Gmail accounts to be able to access the academy. But all in all it seems to be going smoothly.
EWA
Day 3
However yesterday we also leaned about the difficulties Bolivian teachers face. In the elementary school of "Socrates G Torrico", there are 200 students from preschool to 6th grade while there are only 13 teachers. In the secondary school of "Nemesio A Mariscal" there are 700 students from 7th to 12th grade. Every teacher we interview was overwhelmed because they have to teach four different grade levels of approximately 30-35 students per day, they are poorly paid by the government, and they are not granted sufficient materials or support to teach properly.We asked different teachers what subjects most students struggle with, and every teacher answered the same thing - math. Professor Nivardo Rojas Rioja from Nemesio A Mariscal secondary school said in his interview that "Not all students are in the same math level, 20% of kids from 7th-8th have problems with adding and subtracting, and a number of students in 9th-12th have problems with fractions." Not learning this material correctly in their early education accumulates and hinders students trying to learn new material. State schools in the provinces lag behind state schools in the cities because of a number of reasons that can not only be contributed to the lack of teaching material or teacher to student ratio.
Province schools also face lack of parental support because most kids are left by themselves. This is because their parents are working in a different country. Many of the parents migrate to Spain, Argentina, Italy and various other countries looking for work. The lack of parental presence leads to these children being left alone. Among the problems they face is that they are malnourished. In school the students also face a language barrier because Spanish is not their first language. Many of the interviewed teachers thought that a complementary math program would definitely help students understand the subject better. Hopefully the pilot program we are trying can accomplish this, and possibly lead to the implementation of the Khan Academy's curriculum in Bolivian State schools.EA & IP
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Day 2 June 25
Tuesday June 25
This marked the second day of the project. We had a larger turnout today. Three students showed up in the morning and two students in the afternoon. We immediately presented them with the website and the tools. One of the more challenging aspects of the program so far has been to locate where on the knowledge map the students need help. We sort of use a hit and miss approach in which the students tell us what they are doing in school and then we try to find it on the knowledge map using the exercises to figure it out. This process has yielded interesting results as we find that the students have advanced in different subjects due to their curriculum. Rarely does their curriculum follow the knowledge map precisely. We have noticed that some students have some knowledge of certain concepts in geometry but other concepts are completely new and this has happened for all the subjects we have looked at so far.
We have found that this is not a bad thing, it may even be positive in that the students then start delving deeper into the subject matter that they had a patchy understanding of before and are excited to complete their learning and apply what they already knew to try to crack these new concepts. We have also noticed that the students are tentative at first about using the software but as they get right answers with immediate feed back they get more excited and engaged. We usually have a planned snack break during the sessions, but the children sometimes are so engrossed that they work right through it and when we tell them its time to leave they are still trying to work.
We have been using Google Chrome to open the website because it can translate web pages from English to Spanish. In lieu of a Khan Academy page in Spanish this translation has been helpful. Some of the translations are rough and sound ridiculous but it does help especially for the exercises. If there are issues then one of the instructors comes over and helps. By using these translations the students have been able to work on the word problems and understand the instructions on their own.
The students seem more interested in using the exercises and working through them. When they get stuck they either use the hint button or call us over and we try to help. Some of the students have used the online videos. We usually try to use the original videos with subtitles for this purpose. The subtitles are well translated and understandable but not all the videos have subtitles in Spanish. For some of these videos the subtitles are not helpful because the student is trying to look at what is happening in the video and read the subtitles at the same time. When this happened we tried to use the videos in Spanish. The videos in Spanish are a bit of a mixed bag. We have found some very helpful ones and others which are confusing. What the helpful ones have in common is that the instructor is speaking slowly and clearly while in the confusing ones the instructor is speaking fast and even native Spanish speakers have trouble understanding their accent or keeping up with their talking speed.
All in all these small classes have allowed us to iron out some issues and to learn what teaching styles kids are more receptive to.
-EWA
This marked the second day of the project. We had a larger turnout today. Three students showed up in the morning and two students in the afternoon. We immediately presented them with the website and the tools. One of the more challenging aspects of the program so far has been to locate where on the knowledge map the students need help. We sort of use a hit and miss approach in which the students tell us what they are doing in school and then we try to find it on the knowledge map using the exercises to figure it out. This process has yielded interesting results as we find that the students have advanced in different subjects due to their curriculum. Rarely does their curriculum follow the knowledge map precisely. We have noticed that some students have some knowledge of certain concepts in geometry but other concepts are completely new and this has happened for all the subjects we have looked at so far.
We have found that this is not a bad thing, it may even be positive in that the students then start delving deeper into the subject matter that they had a patchy understanding of before and are excited to complete their learning and apply what they already knew to try to crack these new concepts. We have also noticed that the students are tentative at first about using the software but as they get right answers with immediate feed back they get more excited and engaged. We usually have a planned snack break during the sessions, but the children sometimes are so engrossed that they work right through it and when we tell them its time to leave they are still trying to work.
We have been using Google Chrome to open the website because it can translate web pages from English to Spanish. In lieu of a Khan Academy page in Spanish this translation has been helpful. Some of the translations are rough and sound ridiculous but it does help especially for the exercises. If there are issues then one of the instructors comes over and helps. By using these translations the students have been able to work on the word problems and understand the instructions on their own.
The students seem more interested in using the exercises and working through them. When they get stuck they either use the hint button or call us over and we try to help. Some of the students have used the online videos. We usually try to use the original videos with subtitles for this purpose. The subtitles are well translated and understandable but not all the videos have subtitles in Spanish. For some of these videos the subtitles are not helpful because the student is trying to look at what is happening in the video and read the subtitles at the same time. When this happened we tried to use the videos in Spanish. The videos in Spanish are a bit of a mixed bag. We have found some very helpful ones and others which are confusing. What the helpful ones have in common is that the instructor is speaking slowly and clearly while in the confusing ones the instructor is speaking fast and even native Spanish speakers have trouble understanding their accent or keeping up with their talking speed.
All in all these small classes have allowed us to iron out some issues and to learn what teaching styles kids are more receptive to.
-EWA
Day 1 June 24
Monday 24, marked the beginning of AHA Bolivia's Khan Academy pilot project. The winter break of the expected students has been delayed due to strikes earlier this year. Therefore, not all of the students enrolled in the class showed up. This was not unexpected although we hope to have more next week, when the winter break officially begins. We did have two students, Daniela and Erick, show up for our first class. Both the students and the teachers were excited to get started, and the small group allowed us to work closely with the students and familiarize ourselves with the program in action. Daniela has been a strong math student, while Erick was more apprehensive, but both seemed to enjoy their first day. At the beginning of the class, Erick was missing a lot of problems, and was getting frustrated, especially with exponents. He needed more attention than his sister, who was speeding along the knowledge map. Erick's difficulty was that he was desperate to get the answer without paying attention to the process, Elahdio, one of the teachers and a graduate of the Bolivian school system, came to the rescue and sat down with Erick, walking him through the steps of each problem. Once Erick began to spend more time with the process, he began to get the right answers. His enthusiasm for the website grew the more time he spent with it, and after conquering exponents, he felt comfortable exploring the whole site, and discovered and reviewed topics that he had not fully mastered before.
Elahdio was just as excited to have been able to help Erick.
IP
Elahdio was just as excited to have been able to help Erick.
IP
Monday, June 24, 2013
Project Overview
AHA Bolivia S.R.L. is a Fair Trade production company in Bolivia. We
work with over 300 artisans in various locations in the city of
Cochabamba.
We have started a pilot program using the Khan Academy to try to help
the children of these artisans with their difficulties in Mathematics. We
are trying to engender the spirit of the Khan Academy by having the
children use the academy's resources at their own pace. We have also
collected a group of eager young people between the ages of 17-23 with
a strong math backgrounds to be the tutors and supervisors of the
children. The tutors are also bilingual so that they can help the
children understand all of the resources' interface.
Bolivia is a Spanish speaking country in the middle of South America.
For this reason we are trying to use the translated videos and
subtitles for the videos in Spanish. Our bilingual teaching staff is
also available to help the children with any issues they may
encounter. This program will be run for a period of 3 weeks starting
June 24th. These three weeks roughly coincide with the winter break
the kids have from their respective schools. Attendance for the
program is voluntary but we hope to have a large turn out. We have 100
children divided into 5 groups of 20. The groups meet on different days
and times:
Group 1 Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays 10:00AM-12:00PM
Group 2 Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays 3:00PM-5:PM
Group 3 Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:30PM-12:00PM
Group 4 Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:30PM-5:00PM
Group 5 Saturdays 9:00PM-12:00PM
With this program we are hoping to provide the children with the
equipment and the enviroment that will help them to feel comfortable
and excited to learn and explore the Khan Academy. Our goal is to show
them the Khan Academy so they feel motivated to use it even after the
pilot as a learning tool for their academic lives.
work with over 300 artisans in various locations in the city of
Cochabamba.
We have started a pilot program using the Khan Academy to try to help
the children of these artisans with their difficulties in Mathematics. We
are trying to engender the spirit of the Khan Academy by having the
children use the academy's resources at their own pace. We have also
collected a group of eager young people between the ages of 17-23 with
a strong math backgrounds to be the tutors and supervisors of the
children. The tutors are also bilingual so that they can help the
children understand all of the resources' interface.
Bolivia is a Spanish speaking country in the middle of South America.
For this reason we are trying to use the translated videos and
subtitles for the videos in Spanish. Our bilingual teaching staff is
also available to help the children with any issues they may
encounter. This program will be run for a period of 3 weeks starting
June 24th. These three weeks roughly coincide with the winter break
the kids have from their respective schools. Attendance for the
program is voluntary but we hope to have a large turn out. We have 100
children divided into 5 groups of 20. The groups meet on different days
and times:
Group 1 Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays 10:00AM-12:00PM
Group 2 Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays 3:00PM-5:PM
Group 3 Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:30PM-12:00PM
Group 4 Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:30PM-5:00PM
Group 5 Saturdays 9:00PM-12:00PM
With this program we are hoping to provide the children with the
equipment and the enviroment that will help them to feel comfortable
and excited to learn and explore the Khan Academy. Our goal is to show
them the Khan Academy so they feel motivated to use it even after the
pilot as a learning tool for their academic lives.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)