Source:  Flickr

Remember the OLPC XO laptop?  I covered this in an earlier blog post, as it’s a project (One Laptop Per Child) to create really inexpensive laptops to give to children in developing countries.

Well, they totally revamped its design!  Check it out!

Source: Flickr

There’s more information about it in this BBC News article “Design revamp for $100 laptop“.  Not only is it cheaper to purchase ($75!), but it’s also “double-screened” and can be changed to look like an electronic book.  It’s really nifty, I’ve had more than enough experience using the iPhone touch screen to really welcome a touch-screen laptop!  

From my past experience with XO, I did find the clunky keyboard to be a bit of a pain.  I’m sure the touch-screen interface gets rid of that problem, but I wouldn’t really know.  As of right now, though, it’s a vast improvement.

It’s articles like “Building Software Beats Using it” (2003) that makes me wonder if I’m missing something about putting children in front of a computer and building a program.

One thing I agree with, though, is that you can’t just put children to do tasks that are just “yes” or “no” or “true” and “false.” It’s so easy for a child that’s struggling to just make a guess, because hey… 50% chance of getting it correct. It’s really hard to check if they are really understanding it all. Children need an active role in learning, whether it’s discussing or creating.

But to be brutally honest, I don’t feel like time would be well-spent trying to teach children to build intricate programs on the computer just for the sake of learning fractions. They’re trying to learn mathematics, not how to do CSS code or complex bells and whistles like that. I guess I just feel extremities are never good. You wouldn’t want to be a teacher that just teaches by the textbook, nor a teacher that spends an hour setting up and training the children to do something that will technically be “irrelevant” to what they’re trying to learn in the end.

Funny how the part that I found most meaningful about the article was the section where children were discussing and talking about their problems with fractions, brainstorming and making mind maps. I feel that’s wonderful exploration. Sometimes “simplicity” just works!

I felt a bit proud of the result since I’m so used to drawing comics as opposed to using stock images. I hope this makes sense! This is my general opinion on e-learning, etc.

(And yeah, we had to post our photo.)

This application could be very fun to use in the classroom and also encouraging for those who want to make a comic, but don’t feel confident about their artistic skills. Anyone can make a comic! And it’s another medium that is powerful in expressing one’s opinion. All images nabbed off flickr:(Panel 1, Panel 2, Panel 3, Panel 4, Panel 6)

This is a very good downloadable game for the PS3.  The basic premise is that you’re protecting a bunch of little weird-looking villagers that are all collected in one big house and they seem to attract monsters!  If the monsters get to the house, they eat a villager.  Delicious!

So you need to stop them.  You have three weapons to choose from: A cannon, an anti-air machine, and arrows.  The catch is that these weapons do not work for all monsters.  Sometimes you’ll get monsters that fly and therefore will only be affected by anti-air so you need to prioritise what weapons to build and keep your eye on coins, as weapons cost money!

It encourages strategy and problem-solving and it’s incredibly challenging. 

Source:  Flickr

So I was reading Kevin’s blog and his post on the influence of video games in learning seriously hit close to home. I still remember the days when I would be sitting around playing Grandia II (A role-playing game for the SEGA Dreamcast) and getting told I should be doing something more productive like reading a book.

But then I would spend all night drawing little comic book narratives influenced by the plot of the game. I even remember during my senior year, my english teacher said that I tend to write in a “visual” manner, as if I enjoy describing and creating a picture through words.

Some people get really passionate about their interests, and in even the most unexpected game, skills can be learned and applied to different areas.

Hey, Tetris does require a bit of strategy!

I was just reading an online article from the BBC news called “Video games stimulate learning” (2002) and the list of video games used in the experiment conducted just fascinate me!

To be honest, I thought the point of video games was to offer a problem that would require a strategic or certain approach to reach a desired goal, so this article doesn’t really surprise me. I feel we are always learning, even if to others the knowledge might just be “recreational.” That’s the glory of humanity: we are constantly obtaining information and trying to solve problems. Even if the problem is “save the princess from an oversized turtle.”

I do agree that whilst certain video games test your strategy skills, just because it encourages thinking doesn’t mean it can easily fit into the curriculum. The teacher would have to be creative if the lesson plan involving a video game was to work, but at least this article shows that lessons can come from anywhere, even in the most unexpected areas.
That being said, I am now daydreaming of using the video game Patapon for a music rhytmn lesson. But that would require about thirty PSPs and I don’t think that would be affordable.

Source: Wikipedia

They are pretty cute, though.