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FactFile: Road Map to Peace
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From Bristol to New Delhi
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John Cabot City Technology College Students in Bristol
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Children in Bristol, UK and Delhi, India are working together to promote peace in the Middle East through an innovative SchoolNet Global collaborative project.
The project is managed by Dr. Baldev Singh, Head of Computing, and E-Citizenship Co-ordinator at John Cabot City Technology College. Baldev set up the links with Nitya Ram, Head of Computer Department, Vasant Valley School in New Delhi, as part of a Gemini project. Gemini is a revolutionary new software package that enables children across the world to communicate and collaborate on curriculum-based projects using the Internet. SchoolNet Global complements the work of Gemini by enabling children to publish their views and findings to the web.
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Autonomous Learning – Collaborative Learning
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Vasant Valley School Students in New Delhi
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Once the project was agreed, the students, who are 11–12 years old, conducted their own background research on the Internet and in the school library. Baldev says, "Students prepared Power-Point presentations on their findings about the conflict in Israel and Palestine, and contributed their own ideas to an online forum with students at Vasant Valley School. Students took control of the discussions, even continuing after the lesson had finished.” Their views and ideas complement the international governments' official Road Map peace plan. The children’s discussions illustrate commitment to pursuing projects together that will lead to positive outcomes.
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Cross-Cultural Understanding
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Sharing views, discovering common ground
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Baldev continues, "The project is of enormous value to all the children involved. They are becoming autonomous learners and have gained a deeper understanding of the political arguments from both sides. They have come to appreciate the views and values of different communities in other countries and learned to understand and respect other cultures. They have experienced project-based learning and team working. The children have used ICT in a very imaginative and practical way to address a serious issue in the real world."
These views are reflected by Nitya Ram, who says, “The most important benefit of working collaboratively was that our children realised that the difference between them and children across the world is not very great. They found that they used the same language and similar expressions. The two sets of children also converged on common ideas, so now they have learnt that people do not need to live close together to agree with each other, all people are citizens of the same globe and need to have common ideals, of which friendship and understanding are, perhaps, extremely important.”
Baldev adds, "As a teacher, I have learned how to encourage autonomous learning, and have developed my role as a facilitator and e-teacher. It has been so exciting to see how the online forums have developed - the children have all made friends and have really enjoyed working together."
Nitya Ram is very excited about the possibilities of working collaboratively and says, “The project has really boosted students’ general awareness – because our children are so excited with the medium of the discussion, they are putting in a lot of effort to understanding the problems of conflict.”
Visit the Road Map to Peace Project
Download FactFiles Here
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