VOA慢速英语--电脑能教孩子们读书写字吗?

Can A Computer Teach Children to Read and Write?

The 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 spoke¹ 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 illiterate² 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 proficiency³ 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 supplant⁴, 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 radical⁵ alternatives 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.

I’m Caty Weaver⁶.

Words in This Story

app – n. a computer program

intuitive – adj. to know something without proof or evidence

inferential – adj. to reach a conclusion based on facts or evidence

dynamic – adj. moving and changing, not fixed⁷

remote – adj. distant

proficiency – n. the ability to do something well

supplant – v. to take the place of

supplements – n. things that are added

universal – adj. including or covering all; present of taking place everywhere

radical – adj. not normal, very unusual

alternatives — n. other choices or possibilities

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。

3 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？

4 supplant   

vt.排挤；取代

参考例句：

• Electric cars may one day supplant petrol-driven ones.也许有一天电动车会取代汽油驱动的车。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

5 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

6 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

7 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。