Cutting paper dolls, snowflakes, and valentine hearts were annual activities in the long cold winters of my childhood. Life was harsh for children before Fiskars scissors, but somehow we survived. Funny thing--these classic fold-and-cut diversions helped us develop
- Spatial awareness
- Fraction and math visualization
- Clock-reading skill
- Calendar and season understanding
- Storytelling and listening skills
- Sequential and cause/effect thinking
- Understanding of symmetry, density, repetition, proportion, positive-negative
- Self control necessary to refrain from cutting our own hair or the "fruit loop" on our classmate's shirt.
Sure, it's dandy that there are initiatives like One Laptop Per Child. I'm just not convinced a $200 computer will accomplish as much in villages without running water as a daily nutritious breakfast and a good pair of scissors per child.
Weekend Edition Saturday
In Peru, there are 10,000 one- and two-room schools — and thousands of children who live in homes without running water or electricity. But now, many of those same kids are the proud owners of their own little piece of modern technology: a laptop computer.
The laptops are part of a huge educational experiment. Peru is purchasing hundreds of thousands of low-cost computers developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and leading technology experts as part of the One Laptop Per Child project.
© 2009 Nancy L. Ruder
1 comment:
I totally agree, Nancy. And I wonder who's going to keep all those laptops running.
Post a Comment