The program was launched six years ago in 5 classes in the central district of the Ministry of Education, as an experiment aimed at diagnosing changes in the ways of learning that will occur as a result of the mobile computing revolution, and with the aim of designing teaching methods and curricula that will suit the new era.
In recent weeks, the Davidson Institute for Science Education, in cooperation with the municipalities, local councils and parents, delivered about 600 laptop computers to 10th grade students and teachers in 500 localities across the country - who joined the Computer Katum program (a computer for the class, student and teacher). The new participants, above From 100 students and 18 teachers in 1,200 classes, join the community of Katum, eight today About 51 students in XNUMX schools across the country. This year, for the first time, in collaboration with the "Intel" company, mini-laptop computers were also experimentally used, which were given to XNUMXth grade students in Kfar Varadim.
The 7th grade level in Kfar Varadim will be restructured as part of a three-year process, at the end of which the entire middle school will be restructured. Another innovation is the introduction of the program to the Arab sector - at the Al-Salam Middle School in Tayba. Additional new classes were opened in Rosh Ha'Ein, Kiryat Ata, Karmiel, Yokneam, Ra'anana and Kfar Saba. In addition, in Ashdod there is currently an extensive move, in cooperation with the municipality, under which the Katum program will be expanded to four schools in the city, while paying attention to entire layers of 7th grades in these schools. At the same time, the Davidson Institute operates a national training program for Katum teachers who take part in the program, which takes place in and near the schools themselves, as well as a complementary activity at the Davidson Institute. As part of this, an annual managers' meeting of the principals of the orange schools was recently held, with an emphasis on issues in the management of the school ICT.
The Katum computer program is operated within the framework of the Davidson Institute for Science Education, which brings together the educational activities of the Weizmann Institute of Science. The program was launched six years ago in 5 classes in the Central District of the Ministry of Education, as an experiment aimed at diagnosing changes in the ways of learning that will occur as a result of the mobile computing revolution, and with the aim of To plan teaching methods and study programs that will suit the new era. Since then, the program has also been spread to the North, Haifa, and Central districts and South. As part of the experiment, laptops are given to an entire class - students and their teachers - in the XNUMXth grade in middle school, for three years, until the end of the XNUMXth grade. The program is accompanied by a process of feedback and evaluation, and the findings collected by the program centers show that teaching and learning with the help of laptops encourage independence, curiosity and creativity, improve student achievements and the status of both teachers and students, and contribute to a good atmosphere in the classroom and at school.
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Micah, thank you for helping us update the article, I wish I had the manpower needed to update all 16 articles that are so far on the science website.
The Orange project in Kfar Vardim Nahal Kishlon was a serious failure and was discontinued after three years. There are quite a few reasons for this. Among the reasons, you can find the lack of skill of the teachers in understanding the teaching / distance learning. Those who lack the skill of face-to-face teaching have no less difficulty in accessing study materials remotely. The inability to captivate in the classroom is often expressed on the website as well and no less important, the professional guidance did not succeed in dealing with most of the challenges he faced in the local community of Kfar Varadim and above all he failed to cultivate in the school's teachers the ability to become a creative and destructive factor in the curriculum. In the end, the parents had their say and decided to stop the project.
The author is a designer of teaching and learning systems and is well versed in the field of designing online learning environments.
I do not find it appropriate to repeat myself in every discussion on the subject, so you are welcome to read my opinion in my comments in this discussion:
https://www.hayadan.org.il/sylabuses-didnt-chage-for-tewnty-years-0802096/#comment-170606
sympathetic
I tend to agree with everything you said.
Unfortunately, your first idea should be applied in all areas of government, and not only in education.
Apart from that, perhaps disrupting cell phone activity throughout the schools will succeed in slightly improving the students' situation.
Roy
In addition to the points you raised, in my opinion there are several more general points that should be changed:
Educational autonomy must be created, expressed in:
1. A long-term educational plan so that every time a new minister of education comes, he will not bring a magic reform with him. The pace for changing the education system is different from the pace politicians are used to.
2. The influence of students and especially their parents on the educational content and the manner in which the studies are carried out must be prevented. The parents exert unfair pressure on the teachers, who are under a hammer and an anvil.
3. More punitive power should be given in the hands of the teachers to deal with the many disciplinary problems.
In addition, one should try to improve the status of the teacher not only financially but also publicly and in addition to this open up possibilities for promotion in the system so that the profession is considered interesting even for those who are looking for a career. Today the profession is considered a comfortable profession for a working mother who wants to spend time with her children and is not looking for a career.
The creation of more homogenous classes should be allowed by building groups, and professional majors and schools that do not grant matriculation should be allowed.
The education budget is more important than many other things, and it's a shame that the government doesn't see it. Today's children will determine tomorrow's economy and the culture and society we will become.
Need some changes:
1. Raise teachers' salaries significantly in order to attract new and excellent blood to the profession, and to restore motivation to some of the old blood.
2. To change the concept of middle school, which is now seen by the children as an opportunity to pay off a burden without being reminded of this in their matriculation certificate. And by the way, they see right.
3. To switch to a long school day format, as is customary in ultra-Orthodox educational institutions, thus providing children from lower classes with a supportive framework off the street.
But... all these require huge budgets, if only because of the alarmingly high number of children in Israel compared to the number of adults. If we transferred the security budget to education, we would have enough money. But these are, of course, daydreams.
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My blog - Another science
And I'm not here to blame anyone. I'm just saying a change is needed. Because the school no longer fulfills the purpose for which it was established - to educate and teach.
My mother was in the education system for many years, and I also experienced several times in such interactions with the younger generation. That's why I allow myself to say, that what is shown in "Wonderful Land" is luxurious compared to what happens in reality.
I see the Wonderland skits have managed to brainwash some people here.
Michael, you are right. In my opinion, the problem is that they are looking for magic solutions. The computer is an educational tool and should be known
use it It is not enough to flood the classrooms with computers. In the article you linked to, it can be seen that Prof. Gabi Salomon also means this. The title of the article is misleading and intended for sensational purposes.
Let it be clear:
I was not happy to read what appears in the link I attached because the computerization of the education system actually brings me money personally (it doesn't matter how at the moment).
However, it is important to know what education experts say.
My personal tendency is to think that the conclusions stem from the unwise use of computers and that there are certainly ways in which harnessing the computer can bring a huge advantage, but that the teachers did not know how to use these methods (but here, too, we return in the end to the quality of the teacher)
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/1141239.html
I completely agree with Yael.
The overcrowding in the classes and their heterogeneity completely destroys any ability to teach. A quiet child who has difficulty with the material but does not disturb the teacher is transparent in his eyes. On the other hand, the noisy children who are often the ones who have difficulty with the material set the pace of study for the whole class. In light of the "I will sue the school" syndrome, many schools do not have the groups that allow teaching the material at the appropriate pace.
The computer allows the teacher to deal with the above problems, it challenges each child at his level and allows the teacher an immediate measure of the academic status of each child in the class. I expect that when each child learns at the appropriate level, the disorders will also
Shrink. Beyond that, the computer makes it possible to expand the children's imagination through movies and simulations and more, as well as to communicate through the Internet to other sources of knowledge.
It is of course important to remember that the computer is a tool and not a panacea, so it needs to be integrated correctly and appropriately in order to be effective.
The point is that the education system cannot continue with the format of frontal learning (teacher standing in front of students) as it is today. 35 children in the class, half of whom suffer from hyperactivity and attention deficit disorders, and the other half suffer from the "I will sue you and the school" syndrome, meaning children who are sure that they deserve everything. Teachers have no power. They are trampled every day, for starvation wages.
It is clear that we are in last place in the international math tests, because the teachers are constantly busy being policemen, and they have no time left to teach what is needed.
In my opinion, the radical change that will take place in the education system, and the introduction of computers as an integral part of learning, will only bring good things.
I assume that a large part of the improvement in student achievement is due to the teachers who chose the project.
When there is such a flagship project, it starts with the investing teachers, who sat overtime, at their own expense, to take advantage of the computing capabilities.
Similar projects from abroad have shown that there is no improvement as a result of classroom computerization, if the teacher is not recruited.
That is
Still, the bottom line is a good teacher. not a computer