#ntugi primary

Monday: Ntugi Secondary

Ntugi Secondary is a site with students who are very willing to learn a lot with the XO laptop. The students asked me to show them how to switch to the Gnome desktop and use the AbiWord and I helped them to do it. Then, we carried on with the business of day - some of the students had taken pictures of the events that happened on Monday evening in the school compound, and they used the Fototoon Activity to make interesting stories from them.

Tuesday: Ngarendare Secondary/Lewa Primary

Ngarendare Secondary and Lewa Primary are both sites that are really thrusting to learn computers. We used Typing Turtle with students at Ngarendare so as to improve their typing  speed and also help them to use two hands in typing .We were only able to practice the home row since time was limited .

This was the first time the Lewa Primary pupils had access to the laptops, and they had a lot of interest and willingness to learn more. We taught them how to use some of the XO laptop activities like the Write and Record Activities. In Record Activity they were able to take photos and do some recording while they sang and did other different things.

Wednesday: Ntugi Secondary

Form Two (Grade 10) is a group of students ready to use the laptops in learning. I helped them to create a game in Memorize Activity  after I realized that they had difficulties in their Geography class matching different minerals with the areas in which they are mined. I thought a Memorize game would make it a bit more fun for them to study. We were able to come up with a very nice game which can not only be used by the Form Two students who created it, but also by the other members of the school who are studying geography. The nice thing about Memorize is that the students learn both as they create the game, and as they play it.

Thursday: Ntugi Primary

The Grade Seven students from Ntugi Primary School are always eager to learn new ideas every time we meet with them for computer lesson. On this day, they wanted to learn how to both play the math games that come preloaded in the Memorize Activity, and how to create their own mathematics game using the 'create' tools. I worked with their two teachers Simon Mwangangi, Mark Battley, to help each group create one, save it to the Journal, and share it with the other groups using a USB key.

 Friday: Leparua Primary

At Leparua, I am working with the Grade Seven kids who are always ready to learn new ideas on the Turtle Art Activity. First, I asked the kids to remind me what we had covered in the previous lesson and they were able to remember. Then, I then taught them how to use twor new Turtle block commands: The Operation command that makes the Turtle draw a circle a circle, and the Repeat command that makes the Turtle repeat an action for more than one time.  By combining these they were able to draw a simple flower.

Monday: Ntugi Secondary

A new method of teaching at Ntugi Secondary has helped us cover a wider area of study in a shorter time. The projector technology, by which I prepare presentations and present them to the class using a projector has made this possible.

I had been spending a lot of time explaining concepts orally, and many students couldn’t understand - so I had to go round showing each one individually. But by using projected presentations, I am now able to explain clearly to everyone at once. For example, when I was teaching an example code from Scratch, I was able to teach programming concepts like iteration and conditional execution, and also how to debug. These were my objectives, as per the programming curriculum am designing. After the presentation, the students were able to write related codes that applied each of these concepts.

Right now, I am taking screen shots on Sugar and then using a Windows laptop and Powerpoint to connect to the projector, but this coming week I am going to try connecting my XO to the projector using a USB/VGA adapter - and experimenting with the Portfolio activity to build slideshows.

Tuesday: Ngarendare Secondary/Lewa Primary

I was impressed to see how well the students had implemented and executed our 'departmental" idea at Ngarendare Secondary. When I arrived, the students quickly settled into their respective groups, and I had tutorials that guided them about what to do.

The Technical experts learning hardware and software maintenance took apart a faulty 1.5 XO and named the parts. They’d been having theory lessons on the same - about the microprocessor, logic unit - and they were finally able to see them embedded in the motherboard. They named the type of the microprocessor.

The Research department learned how to connect to the Internet and browse things of their interests. Next time, they will have an topic or objective to research about they will present their findings to the rest of the school.

The Networking group also did their part. They learned how to connect and share an Activity with the mesh network and troubleshoot any related problems. Next, they will learn how to connect to a WAP device.

At Lewa Primary we held a Science class with new group of students using collaborated chat in Speak. Now, all the teachers want it done in their classes and with their subjects! They find it very useful.

Wednesday: Subuiga Primary

'Let kids be brought together by their interests' is my motto. As much as possible, I try to discover the interests and talents of the kids I am working with, and help them develop in the directions they want.

At Subuiga, for instance, I held a class using the Paint Activity with the aim of inspiring those students who are very good in painting. I got five kids who will now form a group of painters. I will go on introducing new Activities each week, picking the best kids in them to lead that group.

Thursday: Lewa Conservation Education Centre

Lewa's CEC is now capable of offering a chance for visiting students to connect to the Internet and research on the challenging environmental questions of the day. They are exposed to ecosystems and wildlife during their game drives at Lewa and, with this experience and exploration, they end up with many questions that can only be partly answered during the drive itself.

So, afterwards, they are given a chance to browse those questions and others on the Internet. Although this exposure to online research is focused on environmental questions, it is a way to show them how the Internet can provide reliable answers to any questions of interest. They research a set of questions and then they discuss their findings with the group. Teachers accompanying them admire the method - but they also express their challenge as,unfortunately, they generally lack such resources back at their schools.

Friday: Leparua Primary

At Leparua, I pitched the idea, adopted at the other schools, of combining students according to similar interest after our visit on Friday. There are now a group of painters and programmers who are eager to learn the way in each of those directions. I had a meeting with the responsible teachers that have been assigned to help in the program and we laid of strategies about how to best offer guidance to the students as they explore their interests. 

My role will be just to collect the projects at the end of the week, helping them solve any difficulties they encountered and introducing new ideas. This is the time am yearning for: when the sites run themselves independently!

Monday: Ntugi Secondary

We were happy to find out that we could use an XO laptop with a projector. This will help us in handling the massive class of over 40 students that Judy handles with Ntugi Primary kids. It will be possible to move at a faster rate with this technology. 

Ntugi students are working on projects on Scratch that will soon qualify them to start Pippy - and Python programming - if they present well-designed, well-coded projects. The task is to identify a project, designing it and code it correctly as per the design. I am looking forward to receive these projects.

Tuesday: Ngarendare Secondary/Lewa Primary

Ngarendare students have adopted the idea of self-exploration and learning with a set objective. They are now in a position to ask pertinent questions that help them in their progress - unlike during the earlier lectures we used to give them. 

Much has been achieved during the last two weeks of this type of learning as the Networking group now sets the connections for the class and the researchers are piling up their findings and improving the whole school by sharing this knowledge!

At Lewa Primary, it was the turn for the Grade Seven class to use the collaboration method of learning in their Social Studies. They find it fun to learn this way and are able to remember much of the content taught during the lesson.

Wednesday: Subuiga Primary

Another group of students has formed - this time specializing in typing. They wanted to know how the text books that they read are typed. We used the Write activity, and they had fun helping each other find the keyboard letters and use them in typing. 

The group working with Scratch has started a project they have named Ken the Bee. It is an animation  in which a bee flies to a flower, gets nectar, and then flies away. 

The Painters have so far painted 4 photos to use in telling a story about a football game as a picture-illustrated story in Fototoon. They have two more to paint to have enough for the first scene of the story.

Thursday: Lewa Conservation Education Centre

Students from Ntumburi Secondary paid a visit to the CEC. After the heavy rain, we had to focus on the Education Center first, to at least have the roads dry before the game drive. The students had several environmental questions to research on the Internet, and that they could present later, after the game drive. The teachers were amazed to see their students on the laptops and the Internet so engaged, lively and cooperative compared to their usual ‘cold classes,’ as they called it. With the research done on the Internet, it was easier explaining concepts in then field during the game drive, as it was just an extension of the theory work. The day was very good!

 Friday: Leparua Primary

The Leparua kids were working on their projects. The group working on Scratch completed the first version of their code and presented it.  The Paint group has a few more photos to paint to complete a scene of a picture-illustrated story they are making. They very much enjoy doing it in group work. It’s nice progress that we have seen.

Monday: Ntugi Secondary

At Ntugi Secondary, I had a section with the Journalism Club.  I am still teaching them how to take photos using the XO, so we went into the field where they were able to take photos of different things and we named and saved them in the journal to be used for the next lesson in the Fototoon Activity.

Thursday: Lewa Conservation Education Centre

At Lewa, we hosted students from Sweetwaters Secondary School . They went for a game drive and, in the afternoon, came to the CEC where they sat for a  test which was to be done through typing. We introduced the student to the XO's, connected 12 laptops to each other via the Mesh Network, and we  showed them how to use the to the Chat Activity to see the questions and send their answers to Ephantus. The students were able to type the answers and the lesson was successful.

Wednesday: Ntugi Secondary

I was at Ntugi Secondary where I started a new program with student which I hope will help them cover the syllabus and to revise for their exams. I had Form Two (Grade 10) students, and I connected the OLPC laptops to the Mesh and used the Chat Activity to send them geography questions. They were able to type the answers back to me and I feel the lesson was successful.

Thursday: Ntugi Primary

We started a new program today - and a new site for the OLPC's. Ntugi Primary only is a few hundred meters from Ntugi Secondary but, up till now, those primary students have not had access to the XO laptops. Today, the Class 7 students, and their teacher Mrs. Kimonye, started coming for their weekly visit to the Ntugi Secondary Computer Lab. I introduced them to laptops and to some of the Sugar Activities and we began with some of the basic  Activities like Record and Maze among others.

Friday: Leparua Primary

At Leparua, I continued l teaching the Turtle Art Activity.  We revised last week’s work and I marked the homework I had given them. Then, I taught them how to change the screen colour and how to draw a leaf and a star still using Turtle Art, Pen and Colour commands.