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楼主 / sspassp
- 时间: 2017-10-06 12:08The Global Learning XPrize competition is looking at ways in which children can teach themselves reading, writing and mathematics with only a tablet computer.
The XPrize Foundation and its supporters are offering $15 million for computer programs that teach simple skills to people who have never attended school.
Matt Keller is senior director of the competition. He described the goal of the prize this way: "It's a little bit out there. It's a little bit of a crazy idea."
The first Global XPrize competition is awarding millions of dollars to the team or company that develops the best educational?app.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, estimates that 263 million children around the world are not in school. Teaching these boys and girls is a problem that researchers are trying to solve.
Keller spoke to VOA about the prize.
"Can you develop something that's so?intuitive, so?inferential, so?dynamic?that you give it to a child who is illiterate in a very?remote?part of the world – she picks it up, she touches it and she begins to learn how to read? And that's the challenge that we put out to the world."
About 200 teams entered the competition. From that group, judges chose five finalists. Each was given $1 million. From the five, the judges will choose a winner to receive a $10 million grand prize.
The finalists will begin testing their computer applications in November.
The testing will involve nearly 4,000 children from the Tanga area of Tanzania. The apps will be loaded on tablet computers donated by the American technology company Google.
The children will try to teach themselves basic educational skills with only the tablets.
A smaller group of children will be tested on their understanding of reading and math. After 15 months, the same students will be re-tested.
The top prize will go to the developer team whose programs provide the highest?proficiency?gains among the students.
The XPrize group also is working with UNESCO, the World Food Program and the government of Tanzania. They will give out and provide support for the tablet computers.
Keller told VOA that the plan suggested by the XPrize competition is different from other methods of education.
"Most development organizations and most aid agencies and most governments are focused on building new schools and training new teachers," he said.
Keller said there are many children who do not go to school. Some researchers, he said, are asking the question: "Can you give technology to a child that's so good that it doesn't?supplant, but?supplements?a learning process that she may or may not have?"
The competition is partly a reaction to a growing education problem.
The United Nations has set a goal of providing?universal?primary and secondary education by 2030. This is one of the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals.
A UNESCO report estimates that the world will need almost 69 million more teachers to meet that goal.
"That's simply not possible," said Jamie Stuart, who helped launch the non-profit group Onebillion, which is one of the XPrize finalists. He told VOA, "We have to look for?radicalalternatives?in terms of children's learning."
Developers at Onebillion have tested their app, called Onecourse, for the past 10 years in Malawi. The program is designed so that children can use it with little or no adult assistance. It teaches reading and number skills with an electronic teacher that "speaks" in the children's language.
However, there are many problems to overcome in making a successful app. One, is making a program that works with people who have never before used a tablet computer.
Stuart said what is most important is "keeping it simple, keeping it focused on the individual needs of the child."
Other finalists use different ways to teach children.
Curriculum Concepts International created an app that combines games, videos and books. Another finalist, Chimple, educates children through play and discovery-based learning.
Another app, called Kitkit, was designed for children with learning disabilities. And a fifth, called RoboTutor, involves artificial intelligence and machine learning.
全球学习XPrize大赛正在寻找儿童只能使用平板电脑教授自己阅读，写作和数学的方式。
XPrize基金会及其支持者为计算机程序提供1500万美元，用于向从未上学的人提供简单的技能。
Matt Keller是比赛的高级主管。他以这种方式描述了这个奖项的目标：“这是一个有点儿疯狂的想法。”
第一届全球XPrize大赛正在向发展最好的教育应用程序的团队或公司颁发数百万美元。
联合国教育，科学及文化组织或教科文组织估计，全球有2.63亿儿童未入学。教这些男孩和女孩是研究人员试图解决的一个问题。
凯勒对美国之音说了一番。
“你能开发一些如此直观的东西，如此引人入胜，如此有活力，你可以把它交给世界上一个非常偏僻地区文盲的小孩 - 她接过来，她开始学习如何读书？这就是我们对世界的挑战。“
约有200支队伍参赛。从那个小组，法官选择了五个入围。每个人都获得了100万美元。从五名中，法官将选出获奖者，获得一千万美元的大奖。
决赛入围者将于11月开始测试其计算机应用程序。
测试将涉及来自坦桑尼亚Tanga地区的近4000名儿童。这些应用将被加载到由美国科技公司Google捐赠的平板电脑上。
孩子们会尝试用自己的平板电脑教自己基本的教育技能。
一小群孩子将根据他们对阅读和数学的理解进行测试。 15个月后，同样的学生将被重新测试。
最高奖将是开发团队，其课程在学生中提供最高的熟练程度。
XPrize集团还与教科文组织，世界粮食计划署和坦桑尼亚政府合作。他们会给平板电脑提供支持。
凯勒告诉美国之音，XPrize比赛提出的计划与其他教育方法不同。
他说：“大多数发展机构和大多数援助机构和大多数政府都致力于建设新学校，培养新老师。”
凯勒说，有很多孩子不上学。他说，一些研究人员提出这样一个问题：“你能给一个孩子的技术给那么好，不能取代，但是补充一个她可能或不会有的学习过程？”
比赛部分是对日益增长的教育问题的反应。
联合国的目标是在2030年之前提供普及中小学教育。这是联合国的可持续发展目标之一。
教科文组织的一份报告估计，世界将需要将近6900万的教师来实现这一目标。
“这根本不可能，”杰米·斯图尔特（Jamie Stuart）说，他帮助推出了一个XPrize入围非营利组织Onebillion。他告诉美国之音，“我们必须在儿童学习方面寻找激进的人才。”
百年前的开发人员在过去10年在马拉维测试了他们的名为Onecourse的应用程序。该计划的设计是为了使儿童能够很少或没有成人的帮助使用它。它用一种以儿童语言“说话”的电子教师教授阅读和数字技能。
然而，在制作一个成功的应用程序时，需要克服许多问题。一个，正在制作一个与从未使用平板电脑的人合作的节目。
斯图尔特说，最重要的是“保持简单，把重点放在孩子的个人需求上”。
其他入围者使用不同的方法教孩子。
国际课程概念创造了一个结合游戏，视频和书籍的应用程序。另一个决赛入围者，奇普尔，通过戏剧和发现为基础的学习教育孩子。
另一个名为Kitkit的应用程序是针对有学习障碍的儿童设计的。另有第五名，称为RoboTutor，涉及人工智能和机器学习。 -
Can A Computer Teach Children to Read and Write?
