The Perfect Storm Education and the Virus

The Perfect Storm:
Education meets the Coronavirus.
How we can calm the troubled waters.

Universal Quality Education is the fourth Sustainable Developmental Goal of the United Nations, one that all countries are struggling to reach.  And now, the schools are closed because of the pandemic.  How much will be lost?
The Enabling Support Foundation has developed Education 21, learning in the 21st Century, that can eliminate many of the chronic problems in Education and has the flexibility to deal with the acute effects 
of the Coronavirus.

One simple change in the way we teach reading will lead to SDG-4 in 2 years. Parents teach their children to listen and to speak as a natural part of social interaction. But we delay reading for 5 years until the children learns the alphabet and the sounds of letters.   That is absurd.

In contrast, Kusoma treats reading in the same way as understanding the spoken word.  For example, say a new word, show the written form, and indicate what the word means.  The child will understand both.  We have an Android app that teaches the child to read new words.

Pre-Primary school builds on this and gives children the experience they need to start Primary 1 reading and writing.  We were prepared to demonstrate that after Primary 1 the children would pass the Primary 3 final evaluation.    And then the schools closed.

 
Education 21 and the lock down.

In preparation for 2020 school year with an increasing number of teachers, we developed text and video lessons for professional development.  With the schools closed we taught the parents using the same professional development tools.

One school district in Kenya made a concerted effort to contact parents and were able to reach 900 parents.   Most of the work was documented through WhatsApp and the comments and videos by the parents are available there.  We are using these results of these informal studies as proof of the concept that parents can continue the education of children under the guidance of teachers.

Miridians Nursery School is the birthplace of Kusoma at a conference in May 2017 and has expanded to 200 students ranging in age from 3 to 8 years.  The parents of these children will be invited to be mentors to their children under the guidance of teachers.  Each parent will attend a face to face meeting with the teacher of their child and learn the basics of be given a smart phone for future consultation and lessons. 

We have created a series of lessons that will be sent to the parents as their children progress.  The lessons use project-based learning where the projects are specific skills needed in development.  E.g. Present data, store date, retrieve data.

Project based learning is better than the traditional Lecture-Memorize-Test that puts the parent in the role of Taskmaster.  Instead, the parent becomes a mentor or co-learner as both complete the project.  Parents and teachers will be in contact though group and individual email, and real time chat.

And when you think about it, this whole project is a dynamic illustration of Project Based Leaning.  We are writing the book.

We are asking you to help support this simple approach to disarm the Corona Virus that is attacking weakened Education.  Part of your support is whatever you donate to bring the idea to actuality.  But the most important part is that you want to share the program with others and share what you have found.  You can become part of the WhatsApp community and share culture as well as education.

How you can help.

Your donation will provide the spark for a formal test of Education for the 21st Century that will spread when your donation is gone.  

Sustainability
We start with an existing school which will continue beyond this campaign. And we will add two months experience with the Kusoma approach to reading and project-based distance learning. 

Whatever the outcome of those two months, the school will still be here when the lock down lifts.  We expect to “hit the ground running” with in-class Education 21, while traditional schools are estimating the damage.  We want to lead by example and this campaign outlines our plans. 

There is a second way you can help.  Whether you donate or not you are welcome encouraged to bring these ideas home and try them yourself.  

What will you get in return?  Everyone who donates will get the following below.  Leave your email in the comments on your donation so we can send you the package.

A link to the Kusoma app for Android phone.  It can be used to teach reading vocabulary to babies before they can speak,  but can be used by anyone.  You are encouraged to share it.

You will get guest user on the Office 365 Peace Flame network.  That will give you access to all the public groups and archives on the Peace Flame network.  You will receive and can send mail to others working in the program.

You will be connected to the parent you helped who will invite you to join the discussions on WhatsApp.  It can serve as a Meet Your Neighbor opportunity. 

When this develops into education for the 21st Century, you can say you were there.