AÑO
2021
CATEGORÍA
Aprendizaje y Juego
OBJETIVOS
Educación de calidad, Reducción de las desigualdades
PAL. CLAVE
internet access , learning games, developing countries, computational thinking
PAÍS
Pakistan
CRÉDITOS
A. Rizwan, A. Hasib, S. Burji, U. Hameed
LINK
https://awards.ixda.org/entry/2021/basheer-teaching-computational-thinking-to-novice-technology-users/
Basheer
Teaching computational technology in developing countries
Basheer is a smartphone game designed to teach computational thinking to novice technology users. It gives an accessible and culturally relevant experience in which the learner solves various puzzles in a programming language in the user’s native language: Urdu
As the cost of technology decreases, smartphones and data plans are on the rise, especially in developing countries. This means that there’s an increasing number of people who are just starting to get access to these technologies. A large proportion of these users are from low-income households and don’t have the resources to be educated about the potential constructive use of computers. Through our research in low-cost private and public schools in Pakistan, we found that students couldn’t answer questions like “How are computers are made?” and had trouble understanding how they could be used to solve various problems. We found that most of these students were only passive users of technology: using their devices to watch vide