|
|
          |
Kids in a Techno Age
Johan Benade from the RAU techno-lab believes their curriculum looks ahead to the 2005 curriculum, where technology is going to be a subject in schools. At the lab they teach mechanical processes as well as the skills the children need to turn a solution to a problem. The principles used in teaching these skills are mechanical principles such as gears, pulleys, levers, forces and structures, as well as a computer level where children can build a little robot out of Lego, hook it up to a computer and be taught the programming behind it.
For some students, computers are more than a learning aid: James Wilkinson, a Grade 12 pupil, earns a substantial extra-curricular living writing code for websites. He's become so good at it, he now hires five people and sometimes earns more than his parents! 15 years old James and runs a small company that offers medium sized web development to companies who are looking for an on-line presence. His company develops anything from on-line catalogues to e-commerce. He has even organised a system for the school whereby fundraising can be done on-line or memorabilia can be sold on-line using a Visa, MasterCard or, American Express. This is just one way he has been able to help the school using technology after they've helped him so much with all the machines. So what does this boom in computer and techno-literacy mean to students? Does it put them under more pressure? Does it give them access to infinitely better and more up-to-date learning?
It all sounds overwhelmingly positive... scholars with access to infinite amounts of information, and the tools to make their learning processes easier. And it would be Utopian. But once again, as in so many situations in South Africa, the gap between the haves and the have-nots is glaring.
Mrs Moatshe the Deputy principal at Realogile High School wishes their school could be the same as St Stithians. Most people in her community do not have computers at home, but if the school could have a computer in the media centre where students could go to and do their projects with information from the Internet it would benefit both the teacher and the pupils.
Joe Mapatlele heads up the Soweto Digital Village, a community owned computer centre in Soweto. For a nominal fee, kids in the Soweto area have access to computers and the Internet. Joe Mpatlele says the centre was opened in March 1997, by Microsoft CEO - Bill Gates, and since then the centre grown even larger and has affected many lives in the town ships. However, the Soweto Digital Village is a drop in the low-tech ocean. How can access be created on a much wider level? Lungi Siqebengu is a computer consultant who believes this is where business can intervene "We hear the government hasn't got any money to sort out health issues, housing issues and education. Business can get involved in education at very low cost in terms by taking computers from their companies and putting them into schools, teaching one or teachers how to use them and then getting them to pass the knowledge onto the kids" " Technology is one of the most important levellers of any society, we need to harness the power of technology to leap frog our continent and our country into the 21st century." - Jay Naidoo Technology is transforming the world of adults in this country, and it will continue to transform the world of our children as well. But the question remains... how do we make these tools available to all who need them? Without radical action, the divisions of race and economic class that have so shattered South Africa will continue to be reinforced by the insurmountable chasm of technological knowledge. Contacts
|
An entire generation is growing up with computers, and for them a PC is just a anther way of playing, as easy as Lego blocks or toy cars. Many computer tasks today's adults find challenging, children take for granted. It's been a joke among techno-dummy adults for years that the person in your home most likely to be able to fix the computer or programme the VCR, is your eight-year old. Many kids seem to show a natural affinity for computers.
The Engineering faculty of the Rand Afrikaans University recognised this, and started the Techno-lab, a facility dedicated to building techno-literacy in children. Since its inception,16'000 students have passed through its doors, learning about every aspect of technology from basic gears and pulleys to robotics.
Technology and computer literacy is a fact of life for students at St. Stithian's College and Collegiate schools. There are computers in every classroom , as well as a computer centre. Students have permanent access to the Internet, as well as the school Intranet.
Johan Benade says that you get Lego which hooks up to a computer that can be driven by a three year old. These are the same principles used in engineering controlling systems in the real world.
Just minutes away from St. Stithian's, the students of Realogile High School in Alexandra township experience learning at a very different level. There is not one computer in the school for the students. Their learning takes the form it has for decades: chalk and a blackboard, text-books (when they're available) and handwritten notes.
Society, whether we like it or not is becoming increasingly dependant on technology. Already most social activities like buying and selling, transport, communicating, entertaining and learning are making increasing use of some form of technology. The high-tech citizen will always be at a distinct advantage, in terms of employment and social integration. One answer to this dilemma is to create computer centres in disadvantaged areas - such as the Soweto digital village that gives access to computers, technology and the Internet.
