Education

In an increasingly tech-centric world, keeping kids interested in learning can be an uphill battle. With teaching that involves play recently attracting some powerful supportive voices, students from MIT's Media Lab have developed a system which merges technology and play to stimulate young minds. The Playtime Computing system uses infrared emitters and tracking cameras to monitor the position of a special robot within a play area. As the bot disappears into a hole in a panel, it appears to continue its journey into a virtual world projected onto the walls.  Read More

Computers have become an essential part of a child’s education, yet there are currently over 100 million Indian children who attend rural schools that don’t have electricity – no electricity means no computers. Recently, however, a group of organizations from several different countries put their heads together to create the I-slate, a low-cost, low-energy tablet PC designed for use in these schools that runs on solar power. In trials conducted so far, it appears to be a hit with the kids.  Read More

Remember the Kno digital textbook for students? After much development and student input, the devices are now ready for shipping. In addition to the 14.1-inch dual-screen version, the developers have also created a single screen edition that offers similar functionality to its bigger cousin but in a now familiar tablet format. Students can now also browse through an online textbook store, which is to include tens of thousands of titles from top publishers.  Read More

iPad and iPod Touch application developers have recently created several programs which help aid the learning and development for children with autism. The success and usability of many of these programs has not only offered a new platform to help autistic children with their education, but can also offer much-needed relief to their parents. Autistic children are said to be adapting to these iPad programs like ducks to water, whilst the supervising parents can finally get some quiet time for a cup of coffee or to simply read the newspaper in peace.  Read More

One of the more interesting news items of the last week came from the release of the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs’ first piece of research – Drug harms in the UK: a multi-criteria decision analysis. The findings of the committee, based on wide ranging criteria, apply scientific methodology to answering the perpetually vexing question of exactly how much harm certain drugs do to their users and those around them. The table above summarises the findings and the full paper is available free on the web, where you’ll see just how complex the equation actually is. Most interesting of all was that without government meddling and industry lobbying, alcohol was rated more harmful than any other drug, while tobacco (the only other taxed legal drug on the list), is more harmful than cannabis.  Read More

Laparoscopic gastric banding is a common surgical treatment for morbid obesity and the most critical factor in the success of the operation lies in the hands of the surgeon - who needs the proficiency and skill to insert slender, handheld tools into the body of the patient. A team of interdisciplinary researchers, led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has recently won a US$2.3 million federal grant to develop a touch-sensitive virtual reality simulator that will realistically replicate how performing a gastric band operation feels - making it ideal for developing and teaching fundamental surgical skills and for assessing physicians wanting to be certified as a laparoscopic surgeon.  Read More

A partnership has been announced that aims to give schoolchildren throughout the globe easier access to powerful tablet computer technology. One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and the Marvell Technology Group have joined forces to create a family of educational tablets based on OLPC's OX-3 and Marvell's Moby reference designs. The coalition is aiming to show off its first product at next year's CES.  Read More

Intel has previewed the latest iteration of its classmate PC which features a convertible clamshell design. As part of the Intel Learning Series these low-cost PC’s are built to withstand the rigors of school use while providing educational opportunities to children in developing countries.  Read More

In terms of teaching secondary students relevant and very useful life skills, there could be no better investment at every secondary school than Honda’s all-new automobile driving simulator. Honda has been developing bicycle, motorcycle and car driving simulators solely for the purpose of traffic safety education for almost a decade, and the this model is completely new from the ground up, designed specifically to enhance the ability of driver trainees to recognize, understand and appropriately react to potential risks. In a world where becoming part of the road toll is a daily risk we all share, one wonders at just how many lives a US$66,000 machine like this might save?  Read More