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Local Content
Development in Computer assisted learning centres
Chaitra, studying in 7th standard in Govt. Higher
Primary school, Hungenahalli in Malur Taluk, Kolar District was curious
and inquisitive, like any other child of her age. She wanted to know
more about her surroundings, nature, animal and plant life. Chaitra was
very curious about the ‘BUTTERFLY’…. Is it a bird or an insect, what
does it eat etc. This curiosity was recognized by the Young India
Fellow in the Computer assisted learning centre, who encouraged Chaitra
to learn more about the butterfly by developing Local Content.
Children are highly imaginative and have a lot of
ideas which can be put into use to develop their thinking ability,
logic, skill at work etc. To utilize the child’s investigative ability,
observations of his daily routine and the environment around him or her
and to give an opportunity to present his/her thoughts, the concept of
development of local content was introduced in the Computer assisted
learning centres. The purpose of creating local content is to encourage
teachers and children to proactively explore and capture local
realities into the computers and use this process as a learning
opportunity
The main objectives of developing content locally
by the children are:
- Introduce a new method of project based
learning to children by providing an opportunity to children to take
initiative in collecting information through local resources and local
experts
- Improve creativity, communication skills,
problem solving and project developing skills among children
- Sensitise children to locally relevant topics
like local temple, local water sources, local occupations, local life
style, local food habits, medicinal plants, local remedies for common
ailments etc.
The students do the entire project development -
deciding the topic, planning the project, , gathering information,
reference work with Encyclopedia and textbooks, talking to mentor,
teachers, parents, community and classmates, drawing pictures, entering
the text, giving voice over etc. The Young India Fellow facilitates the
development of the project from the initial stage till the completion
of the project with the help of the teacher. The teacher provides the
academic guidance to the students and implementation guidance to the
Young India Fellow. Teacher should mainly provide inputs for the
overall planning of the project as learning methodology, prepare a list
of expected outcomes, assess children and evaluate the projects. The
parents and members of the community encourage their wards and students
to collect information and accomplish the activities. The mentor is the
local expert on the topic under project development.
Chaitra prepared a project on the Butterfly using
the computer in the Computer assisted learning centre. She read a few
books, discussed with her teacher, used Paintbrush to draw a Butterfly
and label its parts, recorded her own voice for the voiceover and
prepared a full-fledged powerpoint presentation.
Some of the topics on which local content has been
developed include Prevention of Polio, Mother, Forests etc.
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