We began our journey

Walking through the streets of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia., we can quickly see children cleaning windshields, selling small things, or simply wandering through the drainage canals, around the dangers of drugs and violence.

This is a common reality to all Latin American countries. There are several initiatives to work with these children in Latin America, with different outcomes and impacts. Our intention is to contribute to this work, proposing a new way of creative work across the different artistic expressions, as well as with technology (Xo, Sugar, Etoys, Video Games, Python, etc.) that can be applied equally to work with these children, as well as in schools.

Our work is focused and divided into two parts: first, we will work with children and adolescents (without segregation by age) of a home for children who lived on the streets. The approach and methodology of our work use as a tools, simulation and game production. The work of learning is “project-oriented”, always working on a real-life projects, learning through simulations and video games. The technical tools we use for this work are: the various artistic expressions, the Xo and its use in creative ways, always taking advantage of its portability, Sugar and educational activities, Etoys, Karma Project and Pygame.

On the other hand, we will work in the training of future Bolivian teachers in technological tools that promote creativity, like the Xo, Sugar Activities, Etoys, etc. This part of the project is very important because we will be promoting new creative tools through the same teachers before they go to work at different schools. The goal is to have teachers with new ideas and with an open mind, facilitating the long-term implementation of an more creative, free and open education.

Upon completion, the intention is to present a thesis of our experience (in Spanish), to serve as a small contribution to the global community has been working in this direction and thus, we can continue to grow, progress and evolve.

I want to thank the OLPC, as well as NUR University in Santa Cruz, for the support in implementing this project, the intention is that young people will be increasingly committed to this project and this necessary creative change in education.

Next week will be a week of presentation, exploration and experimentation of the tools and the educational environment. We invite you to continue this wonderful experience, giving us your opinions and constructive criticism.

Keep in mind always, that the music is not on the piano 😉 [Alan Kay].