2022年10月3日

標簽:南非的算術技能長期以來一直是教育工作者、政府和全國各地家長關注的話題，小學和中學教育水平的學習者仍然表現不佳。根據最近的一項國際數學和科學趨勢研究(TIMSS)，南非四年級學生在TIMSS量表上的數學平均得分為374分——遠遠低於TIMSS規定的400分的最低門檻，這意味著學習者已經掌握了本年級最基本的學科知識水平。雖然在大學階段，30%的數學標準通過率足以讓學生進入大學，但需要指出的是，這對學生在大學階段取得成功並沒有多大幫助。基於遊戲的學習為這一挑戰提供了一個有用的解決方案，像SplashLearn這樣的組織——世界領先的數學學習項目之一——鼓勵學齡前和小學的學生采用更具互動性和趣味性的方法學習數學。“缺乏學習動力，甚至學習環境不完善，往往是基層學習的最大障礙。SplashLearn基於遊戲的方法來教授數學和閱讀的基本技能，通過讓孩子們學習更有趣來解決這個問題，讓他們更好地掌握概念，並消除傳統教學方法中固有的更世俗的方麵，”南非SplashLearn官方許可證持有者Head Start Education Technologies的首席執行官Shivad Singh說。該平台的特色是一係列有趣的數學和英語語言藝術(ELA)遊戲，學齡前到五年級的學習者可以在線瀏覽和享受，從數塊和比較分數到視覺單詞和語音。超過4000個與課程相匹配的遊戲和活動可供選擇，讓學習者可以按照自己的節奏學習、練習和探索。在玩家解鎖新成就的過程中，學習也可以是個性化和有趣的獎勵。教育工作者和家長也將收到學生進步的報告。 “The programme was a great help and had lots of fun activities for our learners,” says Fa-Eez Abrahams of the Anna Foundation. “Three of our after-school centres, with a total of 30 learners altogether used the programme. The programme’s games are educational, fun, and interactive which kept our learners entertained and engaged for hours.” SplashLearn will also be accessible for free to all learners up to grade five in primary schools within Vuma’s Fibre to Schools network – an initiative that provides schools located on Vuma’s fibre deployment routes with free 1Gbps fibre internet connectivity. This, says Singh, equates to a value of around R5,000 per learner. “We have been using SplashLearn with our learners for some time and it is an amazing learning tool,” says Danica van Zyl, Principal at ISENSE KIDS school in Alberton. “The assignments and tasks are in line with our learning program and curriculum, and we’re incredibly grateful that it’s been made free for use for so many teachers and schools. We aim to use the program to its full potential in the near future by adding devices in the classrooms, so the learners can fully benefit from it,” she adds. Arpit Jain, CEO SplashLearn said, “There has been tremendous learning loss due to the pandemic, especially among elementary school children. We believe this endeavour with our partners in South Africa will further our vision of building equity, access, and quality education for all.” [Column] Gbenga Okejimi: How WorldRemit is promoting financial inclusivity in Ghana In emerging markets all across the globe, marginalized groups face limited access to both financial services and financial literacy ... read full column here [Column] Patrick Ndegwa: It's time for East African businesses to switch to SD-WAN By switching to software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN), many enterprises in East Africa and around the world are accelerating their digital transformation ... read full column here [Column] Carey van Vlaanderen: The most common Facebook Marketplace scams and how to avoid them Marketplace has become so popular in South Africa that similar platforms are struggling to compete ... read full column here INTERVIEWS. [Startup Interview] Tesh Mbaabu, CEO, MarketForce, Kenya He is the Co-founder and CEO of Kenyan-based B2B platform for retail distribution of consumer goods and digital financial services in Africa Today … read full interview here [interview] Nixon Kanali, Founder, TechTrendsKE, Kenya Nixon Kanali is a Kenyan-based tech journalist, blogger and digital influencer … read full interview here [Interview] AI Kelly, Chairman and CEO, Visa INDUSTRY NEWS