OLPC - Rwanda Projects portfolio

Name of the project

Social School Mapping Project

Target population
Beginning with P6; then expanding to P5 & P4; then a final expansion to the parents/community of the school

Purpose of the project

For children to socially and mathematically map their peers, school and community based on questions and surveys, developed by students, pertinent to the local context, concluding in the creation a full demographic assessment. Students will teach other students, grade levels with work with other grade levels and the project has a possibility to be ongoing as students collect valuable data for the development of the school.

Number of participants (min and max)

Varies depending on the level of the project but on average: Min 30 Max 300

Relationship with the curriculum (Grade, academic area & specific competence)
This project is closely tied with the Rwandan curriculum because the students will be working with percentages, graphing, statistics and data analysis all of which one can find in NCDCs mathematic curriculum outline for P6 students. In addition, students will have to work together in teams and learn more about themselves and their community, which is also outlined in NCDCs social studies curriculum, lastly, students will have to think critically, be creative and problem solve which is NCDCs overarching goal to create a generation ready to compete in a knowledge-based economy.

Necessary inputs
No additional inputs are needed besides laptops and reliable electricity, but the way the plan is currently laid out, it assumes that students have a fairly advanced knowledge of activities, if this is not the case, an additional day can be added to the plan to allow for introduction of activity use. Although it is not necessary, the project could be better organized if there was a server available to help compile results.

Activities (specific description of any of the activities of the project from day 1 to the final day)
(the work of the teacher is highlighted in blue) Day 1: Daily focus of the teacher: to introduce statistics and the importance of numbers to your class in a fun and engaging way Teacher: Will introduce their P6 class to statistics. This is done by sharing statistics important to Rwanda for example 70% of Rwandese live in poverty, etc. These statistics can be found in the curriculum books or on Wikipedia. The teacher must then guide the students in a discussion of what statistics tell us, why they are important the story numbers can tell, and think of ways the example statistics can be interpreted and why they are important to know. The teacher then gives an example statistic of the class such as: there are 13 girls and 17 boys. The teacher then divides the class into groups and each group has to come up with their own statistical curiosity and then work together and survey their class members, thus answering their curiosity. The results are presented to the class. Homework: To think deeply on an important statistical question that will tell a lot about the class Day 2: Daily focus of the teacher: to help students work well in groups, make sure all are thinking of ideas and communicating The class will reconvene into their groups from the day before. The teacher will divide the students into the same groups as yesterday. Students will share, with their groups, the questions they considered for homework. The group will then select one or more question to focus on. But this time they will have to consider how they are going to pose the question and how to accurately log their peers responses (for example anonymity is important in surveys). They can develop a simple form in Write or a more

complex program in Scratch or Etoys. It could vary from a student creating a table with age ranges in Write and peers simply mark under their appropriate age or a student could draw two characters in Scratch maybe a snake and lion and the students have to click on which one they think is more scary. The teacher should also develop their own questions as well as they will provide a good example for the class, the teacher should also walk around and speak to the groups to help them to think of ideas. Day 3: Daily focus of the teacher: help students to compile their data results Students will begin the day by using their developed theories to collect the data from their peers. So, maybe, each group/students simply leaves their laptop open on the desk with their survey format as students circulate through the class answering the questions posed on the laptops. Students then collect their data and discuss the best way to compile them in their groups. Will they create a table, chart, graph, etc? The teacher will collect results from each group, creating a compilation of the social mapping of the entire P6 class. Homework: P6 students develop survey questions for the younger students Going Deeper (involving younger students and the community) Daily focus of the teacher: to guide the older students to prepare for and working with the younger students Day 4: P6 classes can decide among themselves the best methods for surveying, data collection, presentation of data, etc. The teacher should guide this process to help to the class to come up with techniques that worked well and did not, the responses from the students can be written on the board. Once this is done P6 can focus on repeating this same exercise with either all the grades

in their school or P4 & P5--this varies greatly depending on the number of pupils in the school. P6 students will act as the teachers to explain to younger students the importance of statistics, data analysis, all of the things that they learned the first day of their lesson. After this they will ask the students to answer some survey questions they (P6) had created. P6 students explain to the younger students why they chose the questions they did, why they questions will help to answer a larger story about the class/school. P6 presents their results to the younger students. Homework for P4, P5, and P6: Students will have to think of survey questions they want to ask those in their family/community Day 5: Daily Focus of the teachers: Teachers from all grades will guide students to work well in groups; make sure all are thinking of ideas and communicating P4, P5, P6 (or whatever chosen grades for the project) will meet in groups and discuss the ideas they have for surveying their families. They will work in groups to think of the ways to collect and analyze the data. Homework: students ask their parents/community the questions and collect data Day 6: Daily focus of the teachers: To find the best way to compile their students data All students work with their teachers to compile and assess the data. The teachers can create a quick Write report to record all of the feedback if there is no server at the school. These reports are shared to all classes, teachers, and community. If possible, the report can be posted on line or printed out and shared.

Even Deeper While it is good for students to think of their own survey questions for the first part of the project as this will help to develop their curiosity skills, the school could also consider future work with P6 or other students to track performance of the school. For example, the headmaster may create a group of students who excelled or really enjoyed this project to monthly or quarterly survey the students. It could include questions like, are students liking school? What do they think the school can improve? Are parents happy with their childrens homework? etc. Questions like these that would prove as important knowledge for the school in order to develop. The statistics groups can use this data to also track interesting curves and trends.

Main output of the project

The entire school will work collectively to put forth and complete statistical analysis of the classes, school and community. These skills can be used in the future, by the schools leadership to continue mapping the social aspects of the students development.

Survey
At the end of the project a group of students or teachers can create a survey to measure the outcome of the project and to assess the skills students need to use in order to complete the project. An important thing to measure may be the fact that children from all grades are working together, with students teaching other students. It would be interesting to survey this impact and how teachers and students interpreted it.

Expected results
There are many outputs expected from this project as it addresses many subject and social areas: 1) Students will practice use of advanced math 2) Students will learn to work in teams, sharing ideas, develop listening skills and coming to collective group decisions 3) Students will use their laptops in advanced ways in order to create a social goal of mapping their class, school, community 4) Students will develop their own survey questions, pushing them to think creatively, students will also have to collective deice how to collect and measure results, again using advanced mathematical procedures, but also thinking critically and solving problems 5) Students will teach other students, creating an important school dynamics, the walls of the schools will also be broken as different grades will work together on the same project and parents and the larger community will be included. 6) An ongoing demographic club

Research questions
1) What affects are seen when students teach other students? 2) What happens when the divisions between the grades are broken down and families and communities are used in students schoolwork.