Kindergarten pupils trade blackboards and pens for laptops

Joshua Gichira fires up his laptop, opens an application, selects a tab named “How Many” and begins counting the number of spirals on the screen.

“Nine!” shouts the five-year old and proceeds to click on the correct answer from the multiple choices given and a smile pops up on his screen to show he is right.

The mathematics lesson has just started and all the kindergarten pupils at Karibu Centre in Thika have their eyes trained on their 10-inch laptops, with their fingers busy on the touchpad.

The learners are seated in groups of five around a table and each is engrossed in the computer-based numeracy lesson.

These nursery school children have traded the traditional chalkboard, wall charts and textbooks with educational apps loaded on the laptops.

Karibu Centre, a co-educational day nursery school located about four kilometres from the industrial town of Thika, is pushing the limits of innovative learning with its early childhood development (ECD) computer education.

“Children learn better from younger ages. The laptops spark interest in learning and the children get to explore and learn on their own,” says Luke Kincaid, a director at Karibu Centre.

“The younger you introduce learners to computers the stronger their foundation.”

Seeing the young Gichira navigate the Intel-powered classmate PC puts to shame President Uhuru Kenyatta’s plan to supply Standard One pupils with laptops — which is running behind schedule and has hit tendering headwinds.

“Our ECD computer education programme is now in its third year,” said Mr Kincaid adding that the project was started in 2010.

A qualitative case study carried out on Karibu Centre’s kindergarten children the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) test showed the learners outperformed their peers in traditional nursery schools in literacy and numeracy

“The results have shown that on average the DIBELS test scores improved by 114 per cent. This means that on average their literacy scores more than doubled in six months after the implementation of a computer lab,” Karibu Centre said in a statement.

The DIBELS score is a global test used in assessing early childhood literacy and is the brainchild of two American professors— Ruth Kaminski and Roland Good.

The findings reveal that computer-aided lessons help inspire young learners to develop basic reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. The Classmate PC is Intel’s low-cost laptop made specifically for children and comes loaded with educational apps that make learning fun.

One of the apps in use at Karibu Centre is Sebran Educational software intended for young children aged between four and nine years old.

The freeware app combines colourful pictures, music and games to teach the alphabet, simple mathematics and reading skills.

Sebran has 12 modules half of which are exercises that display multiple choices and the learner is required to select the correct answer. The exercises are graded as “easy and difficult”.

If the learner clicks the correct answer, a smile appears while an error results in a frown and the child is given a second chance to try again.

“It takes them a week to learn how to go about the application,” said Jane Kiambo, an early childhood teacher at the centre.

“How Many” is a module where the child counts the number of items appearing on the screen. “Pick a Picture” is a game where a word is displayed along with four colourful pictures. The child is required to click on the picture that matches the word.

The children also play “Add” “Subtract” and “Multiply” exercises which give young learners an opportunity to practise numeracy skills such as addition, subtraction and multiplication.

“Memory” and “Word Memory” sections help children develop reading skills and word recognition . The child matches a picture with the corresponding written word.

“These software programmes engage more of the child’s senses for greater retention and enhanced learning ” said Ms Kiambo.

Sebran was developed by a Swedish female techie named Marianne Wartoft, who has specialised in creating educational apps for children and adults.

Some of her other freeware programmes include Seterra, a map quiz game and Minisebran which offers creative exercises including doodle drawing.

There are a total of 140 pre-school learners at Karibu Centre, mostly orphans and destitute children from Thika.

Karibu Centre’s ECD computer education project provides some valuable insights to Jubilee Coalition policy makers on how to infuse technology in learning and how the government’s one laptop per child programme should be rolled out.

First, the centre trained its teachers in computer skills so they could effectively use technology to spur learning.

It is also important to win the backing of teachers to successfully run such a project, and this involves debunking some fears.

“Some teachers feared that computers would replace them and cost them their jobs,” said Margaret Mbirua, a teacher at Umoja Primary in Thika.

“But we soon realised that the laptops make our work easier,” said the tutor who is a beneficiary of Karibu Centre’s teacher training programme.

Mr Kincaid says the centre has built and stocked two computer laboratories at two nearby primary schools—Thika Barracks and Kenyatta— and trained their teachers in using the laptops.

On the choice of devices, Karibu Centre said it settled on the Intel Classmate PC because it combines affordability and functionality and a rugged design that make the laptops stand up to the rigours of everyday use by children.

“Conventional laptops are expensive to purchase and maintain. The Classmate PC was made with child in mind,” said Mr Kincaid.

The average cost of the Intel Classmate PC is Sh25,000. Karibu Centre is project of Orphans Overseas, a US-based non-profit organisation, in partnership with the Salvation Army.

Chipmaker Intel supports the centre through the Intel Education Service Corps, program through which the tech giant’s employees work with communities to support the use of Classmate PCs in developing countries.