Educate or Die

The self-stated goal of Educate or Die, a new website designed as a way to help the youth of "Black America" stay in touch with their dreams and aspirations, is to provide an outlet for students and young professionals to take their education to a whole new level."

The site contains a "Did You Know" section with facts that change with every click. For example, did you know that Silas B. Purnell, working from a small office in the basement of a Chicago housing project, enrolled 55,000 black students in college?

The website also includes profiles of "Star Students" and information on their summer events, as well as links to other helpful sites.

Educate or Die is sponsored by the Black Star Project, a father involvement program.

www.educateordie.org

Black Star Project

Our mission is to provide educational services that help pre-school through college students succeed academically and become knowledgeable and productive citizens with the support of their parents, families, schools and communities.
The Black Star project sponsors father involvement/male involvement programs, including the Million Father March, Men in Schools Day, and the Fathers Club.

Philip Jackson, founder and Executive Director of the Black Star Project, is a national leader who advocates for community involvement in education. He also champions the importance of educating parents, so that their children will be properly educated.

Their mission is "to provide educational services that help pre-school through college students succeed academically and become knowledgeable and productive citizens with the support of their parents, families, schools, and communities. The Black Star Project also has scholarship programs for disadvantages students of all races who are seeking post-secondary education.

To find involvement opportunities in your community, visit their website, www.blackstarproject.org

Animals for Kids - Educational Website

Sheppard Software's free educational website section "Animals for Kids" is now in its 6th month of providing 60 online games and activities, as well as supplemental education pages.

Topics include:

Animal Classification
Endangered Animals
Carnivores, Herbivores, and Omnivores
The Food Chain

Animals for Kids is primarily for elementary and middle school students, but there are also animal activities geared for even younger learners, such as painting, making an environment, seek-and-finds, puzzles, and memory match games.

Sheppard Software is a teachers' and homeschoolers' staple with its games, articles, quizzes, and trivia, which are all available online for free. There are also over 300 geography games!

Links:

www.sheppardsoftware.com
www.sheppardsoftware.com/animalsforkids.htm
www.sheppardsoftware.com/foodchaingame.htm (pictured top right)
www.sheppardsoftware.com/animalclassification.htm

One Laptop Per Child fails in its mission

This last Christmas, my daughter's grandpa purchased an XO for her. Operating in a Linux-based, open source environment has been confusing for me. I am an admitted Microsoft lemming. Bill Gates owns my object-oriented soul.

But I was thrilled for her to have her little green and white wonder, and it is her mother who has been playing with it the majority of the time. (Although it takes a first grader to remember where to find the camera function and how to play the games!)

The concept of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is innovative, and could have been an international success story, had the premise of the project not been steeped in Western learning traditions that began with Piaget. Don't get me wrong, I have read Piaget's learning theories, and agree with him in large part.

The problem lies in the fact that Eastern educational learning theories do not necessarily agree with Piaget, and because spreading his learning theories are the basis for the XO, it is not only insulting to the Eastern market, but threatening to their educational status quo.

Nussbaum's Businessweek blog (link at bottom) explains the failure of OLPC in more detail.

Was OLPC insulting? Innovative? Misguided? Improperly marketed? Misunderstood? A stroke of genius before the world was ready? Little more than another child's toy for middle-class Americans, from its inception?

Would love to hear what you think...

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/NussbaumOnDesign/archives/2008/05/the_end_of_the.html

WEDOKU-SUDOKU GAMES & LESSONS FOR KIDS from ESumz

The Sudoku puzzle craze still seems as strong as ever,
and unlike online social networking fads for young kids
surrounding things like virtual pets (which do have
their own virtues), Sudoku helps children develop their
logic, reasoning, and concentration, while tapping into
the tech-savvy side of today’s kids.

EsumZ, an innovative online math learning company, has
launched WEDOKU-SUDOKU Games, an online learning program
where game and puzzle enthusiasts can learn how to solve
Sudoku puzzles.  EsumZ offers structured lessons and live
online tutoring.

Sudoku is a logic-based number-placement brainteaser. It is
a challenging and entertaining pastime. Formal learning is
not necessary to enjoy Sudoku, but ESumz’s introduction to
its simple rules and concepts helps children and adults
hone their puzzle-solving skills.

Children (and their parents!) will be able to integrate the
logical reasoning skills they have refined with Sudoku into
their school experience.

Online tutors present each lesson using a fun-filled story
format in an interactive classroom. Students meet online in
an interactive classroom and learn Sudoku rules, simple
puzzle-solving strategies and how to manage 4 x 4 and 9 x 9
Sudoku grids through the use of stories and “white board”
technology.

Children can also play games in the online portal after
each lesson.

Hands-on Sudoku games build puzzle-solving skills in a
step-by-step process that blends math concepts with games.

EsumZ offers their WEDOKU-SUDOKU online learning program
for only $129.

For more information on WEDOKU- SUDOKU Games, log on to

https://www.esumz.com/General/sudoku.html