global challenges - interactive whiteboard lessons

Major pageGLOBAL chalengestechtechnology and ecological reports around the world, September 17, 2005
ETTHIS is a rush transcript at 19:30:00.
This copy may not be in final form and may be updated.
Younis Yin, cnn anchor: The global challenge of the Board of Education this week-
What is written for the children of these Chinese schools is hung on the wall;
Internet for everyone--
This small steel box opens up a whole new world,
Before they become extinct, jump in the dark and let them gather two by two.
Hello everyone, welcome to Hong Kong.
There is an old saying: you reap what you sow.
This is certainly the case in educating the next generation.
China is aware of this and knows that if it wants to continue its massive economic growth, it needs to educate its young people at the highest level.
So you wouldn't think they would want to go back to the drawing.
Well, think about it again. (Start Video)(voice-over)Half of China
All schools are very similar to this school in guahoe (ph)
Province: young people on rickety wooden tables recite their lessons word for word.
But with the Chinese government eager to turn China into a world superpower, it has come up with a plan to turn it into a world superpower.
Locust College, Hong Kong (ph)
Considered an innovator in the field of education here, it is also one of several schools participating in a new research project supervised by Beijing.
The school is testing digital whiteboards, one of many new technologies Chinese officials want to help straighten out China's rigid education system.
Unidentified male (
By translation)
: We are used to the idea of ranking students based on their scores in the exam.
A new system helps students develop their abilities and create a creative learning environment.
YOON: it's not easy for a school system that has trained students over the years to recite and memorize instead of thinking for themselves to inspire creativity.
Beijing's strict control of information also hinders free thinking.
Currently, the country spends 3.
Education accounts for 2% of its gross domestic product, compared with 5% in the United States.
Educators say the government plans to increase that number to 7% by 2010.
Unidentified male: China is still a manufacturing-type society where you need to follow the instructions in the manufacturing economy.
Obviously, to be the leading economy in the world today, you have to create an innovative environment.
So China is aware of this and is doing its best.
YOON: China is adopting new technologies to improve the education of more than 0. 2 billion grammar and high school students.
Except audio-
Visual devices like voice recorders and VCDs, the government is working on computers, the Internet, and digital whiteboards, as made by smart technology Canada.
Intelligent technology interactive whiteboard is a modern version of the traditional blackboard.
Chinese students are like students from all over the world.
They are very excited to have something in the classroom that will bring vitality to them.
The interactive whiteboard and everything you can do with it, use it to show everything and talk to them in a way that text on paper can't do.
YOON: students can move shapes on board
Sensitive surfaces and use electronic markers to write notes that can be saved for class on the computer the next day.
They can also watch DVDs and surf the Internet.
I don't need to press any key.
I just moved it by hand.
We can draw on it, like this.
We can move things.
Unidentified Woman: I like the way you write on it with those electric pens.
They are cool.
YOON: they can even chat with students from other schools using the blackboard. (on camera)
: Chinese students in Beijing and Hong Kong are coordinating their whiteboards so they can communicate with each other electronically.
Today, they can share information and hope they can learn together in the future. (voice-over): Hoching (ph)
Secondary schools in Hong Kong and Uti in Beijing (ph)
Plans to use whiteboards to help students learn Mandarin and English from each other.
Unidentified woman (
By translation)
: I think the smart board is very good and very useful, it makes it easier to communicate remotely.
With this smart board, I wrote down that all the students saw the content.
YOON: But writing on the blackboard can be tricky sometimes.
Students complain that the shadows cast on the blackboard by the projector often get in the way of them.
In China, long time online may also be a problem. in China, Internet bandwidth may be inferior.
The technology is ready, but the bandwidth is not ready yet.
Why is the bandwidth not ready yet?
Sometimes I don't know why.
Just unreliable.
The biggest obstacle is the price. At $3,000 U. S.
Interactive whiteboards are out of reach for most schools here, reminding many educators that China will have to invest more new equipment to change the status quo.
Male: all these new newspapers may offer students some opportunities for creative thinking, but the most important thing is the teacher.
The board itself cannot replace the teacher.
YOON: but digital boards can make learning more interesting for these students. (END VIDEOTAPE)
When we came back, it was another way to motivate school kids, this time with a small device with great creativity. Stay with us. (
Business break)
Yin: welcome back.
Hong Kong has one of the world's most famous skyline.
I don't want to see what the daily electricity bill is, just to run all the computers in these buildings.
Electricity is scarce in many parts of the world, and only the rich can afford it.
But a computer chip maker wants to change it. (Start Video)
CNN reporter alphonso van marsh (voice-over)
: In the deep valley (ph)
Most of these students will celebrate graduation day, but few low-income high school students will be able to turn their degree into a decent job.
Their talent and potential are great, but they live in the shadow of the affluent suburbs of Johannesburg, and the school principal says that when her school is made up of sheds, trailers and storage boxes, it's hard to dream of being a doctor or lawyer and can hardly teach them the skills to work in the office.
Unidentified women: The school is located in the center of informal settlements.
We call it a shantytown camp.
Most of the houses are sheds.
They are not even as big as normal rooms.
80-90% of parents here are out of work and they don't have any form of income, so you can imagine that children from this poverty --
The battered background, still struggling with their own food and clothes, how can they reach something like a computer?
Van marsh: But a pilot project in South Africa is open to students in deep lakes (ph).
One of the largest computer chip manufacturers in the world, California-
AMD is providing these students with 40 small orange and gray boxes called "pictures", a personal internet communicator.
They are designed to provide reliable Internet connectivity and basic computing such as email and text editing at a low price.
Less than $200 per photo.
The photos are part of the school's revamped Internet computer lab sponsorship program.
These pictures are connected to the computer monitor, keyboard and host server under lock and key.
These pictures replace the traditional computer processing unit cpu that cannot handle Deep Slough (ph)
Bad environment.
Woman: We have problems with computer maintenance, especially cpu.
Each time they are broken, or this part is closed, or that part is closed.
Of course, children as children tend to fiddle with or break them themselves. VAN MARSH (on camera)
: Now, while there is an occasional need to call the technician, the owner says that there is actually no problem with the main component PIC. Why is that?
Well, inside, the hard drive is closed in the impact.
Resistant to materials.
The manufacturer says its appearance is actually indestructible. (voice-over)
: The reliability of these photos is a small but important stabilizing factor in the lives of these students.
19-year-old studentyear-
Old Bulaloni Subaqua (ph).
His story is very common in this area.
Both parents died before his 16 th birthday.
A sister dropped out of school to have children.
His other sister dug the ditch.
Our room is--
This is my bed, my bookcase.
Braloni ()ph)
His sister lives with his two nieces.
From the weekend to the weekend, there was little food in the room.
When Bulaloni (ph)
Tips to take home from work in a restaurant. Bulaloni (ph)
In the last year of his high school.
His computer teacher said she was worried that he would drop out of school and work fulltime.
She said that the internet reignited Bulaloni (ph)
Desire to learn.
Unidentified woman: he has not been interested in his studies or other things for the past two years, but since then ---
Because we have had extra lessons since sitting down with him and seeing that he is capable, and I think that enhances his self
Because he can do things for himself now.
Van marsh: for example, come up with a computer business plan to open a restaurant yourself.
Unidentified male: We can seek sponsors through the Internet and advertise your products.
The Internet is a whole new world.
This will welcome my thoughts.
I usually drop out of school.
A lot of work, they need people with computer skills.
Braloni ()ph)
I may bow to someone who is slow to type, but he has gone a long way in just two years. (on camera)
Have you ever done a computer before?
Man: No.
Van marsh: have you been on the Internet before?
Man: No.
Van marsh: Have you ever seen a computer before?
Unidentified male: Yes, I saw it, but I didn't do it. VAN MARSH (voice-over)
: By 2015, it is PIC's goal to connect half of the world's people to the Internetmaker AMD.
The company's CEO said the key to connecting people is to cater to the biggest underserved market, low-income consumers in today's and tomorrow's world.
Unidentified male: for a person who grew up in Mexico from an early age, it becomes very personal to wipe shoes on the street.
With today's technology, a device like a child's classroom or home, imagine what it will do.
It's interesting for me to think of these possibilities.
You know, there may be a Bill Gates sitting there in Mexico, Brazil, India or Africa, but we will never know.
Van marsh: the teacher of Deep slogh (ph)
The United school says its goal is to achieve more realistic goals.
Today's course, search for clipart online and make flyers selling electronic products.
There are many obstacles ahead for these students.
Unidentified women: others look at their background and say, but even if I want to be a pilot, who will pay me for it?
As a result, they will acquire computer skills, for example, they will be able to continue their studies when they may still be looking for financial support, and they can be staff members. VAN MARSH (on camera)
You can use these computers in your school.
Do these computers open up a world for you that is completely different from the one you know here?
Man: Yes.
Son of Deep Valley (ph)
We are losing hope. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
In a shantytown.
You want to use a computer.
This is the first school to be able to use a computer and it gives encouragement to others. VAN MARSH (voice-over)
: These photos will not end the poverty cycle in the suburbs of Johannesburg, but Bulaloni (ph)
His computer class inspired him to break the cycle for him and his family.
Unidentified male: I will succeed. I will try.
Van marsh, global challenge, deep lake (ph), South Africa. (END VIDEOTAPE)
Yin: It's just a side note of that story.
After Hurricane Katrina hit the United States, AMD deployed dozens of photos to help those displaced by the storm find family and friends.
Green is not easy after rest.
E word, extinct, its ugly head.
We will be back soon. (
Business break)
Yin: welcome back.
Our ecosystem is so subtly balanced that if a seemingly insignificant species goes extinct, it will have a huge impact.
It's hard to believe that an animal that has been around for 0. 3 billion years will disappear overnight, but that's the fate of threatening frogs and other amphibians.
Some scientists believe that this may be a huge red flag on the human side, and some measures are being taken. (Start Video)
Michael schulder, CNN correspondent (voice-over)
: In a tropical rainforest full of life, a silent killer is on the way.
The killer is a fungus that moves from one continent to another, eliminating all kinds of frogs.
Scientists are worried about the deadly Kitric (ph)
Fungi may be the cause of mass extinction that dinosaurs have never seen since they disappeared.
They think this paradise is the next stop for fungi.
The only hope is that two people from Atlanta will come first.
Joe Mendelson at Atlanta Zoo: I'm a doctor. Joe Mendelson.
M: where do you work?
I am the curator of amphibians and reptiles at the Atlanta Zoo.
Ron gagliardo of Atlanta Botanical Garden:
I am the curator of the Tropical Collection at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
Shourder: Joe Mendelson and Ron gagliado will fly to Panama to carry out the mission of saving 40 rare frogs.
They have one of the oldest ideas in the book.
You can call it Noah's Ark.
Unidentified male: The permit allows 40 frogs of any gender and of any kind.
Shourd: Mendelson and gagrido want to find and evacuate 20 males and 20 females from each species they are trying to save, they want to have enough mating breeding pairs to keep the species in captivity before finding a way to handle the fungus and safely return the frog to the wild.
If you hand me the map, I will navigate from here.
Shourd: one of the magic varieties they want to save is the glass frog, which has a very thin skin and you can see its internal organs directly.
So many frogs are dying. why should humans worry?
One answer is in the lobby of Mendelson and Gaglia's food preparation area, which is mostly set up by evacuees.
Unidentified male: This is a delicious food for a big tree frog.
Shourder: it's bad news when so many natural predators of the disease-carrying insects disappear.
Frogs liardo: Frogs play an important role in the ecosystem.
They are consumers of insects.
They are consumed by higher things in the food chain.
So when you take the biomass of the amphibians out of the food chain, it clearly creates some kind of chain reaction that we can't even understand yet.
Shourder: Of the approximately 6,000 species of amphibians found, about 120 are now considered extinct.
100 6,000 sounds good.
It is shocking that in the past 20 years, most of these 120 species have died suddenly, and more than 1/3 of them are declining and are in danger of death.
Mendelssohn: I can't tell you how long this species has been on this planet, but it's been millions of years.
It will be killed in the next 10 or 12 months.
But why now?
Why are so many species of frogs facing extinction after millions of years of adaptation and survival?
There is a particularly terrible possibility: the human footprint destroys so many habitats, causes so much pollution, makes frogs vulnerable to a fungus, this fungus may not be the only dangerous frog to survive in the past.
Claude gascon, international airport protection
: Today, amphibians and the same life support system, I think that the possibility of having the same impact on amphibians will start to have an impact on other biological groups.
I think ultimately it depends on the survival of our human beings.
Shourd: At the moment, our task is to get time, so they will go to the woods.
They have a dedicated team of Panamanian biologists waiting for the sun to go down and frogs to wake up.
Rainforest frogs are not easy to find.
This is not an amazing disguise for the skin.
They found one.
Shourd: all of a sudden, a scene.
Oh, great.
This is one of our A1 priority species.
Do you know what gender this is?
Man: That's a woman.
Unidentified male: So if you return to this place within a yearand-a-
Half from now on, this may not be here. Nice catch.
Shourd: there's another witness.
Oh, wow.
This is a pair of mating rain frogs on it.
Much smaller than a much larger female.
They are all adults.
Shourd: there's more.
Unidentified men: they are very rich in the environment.
Everyone you see, I promise we 've gone through more than 20, 30, 40.
It's a time for the rainforest, isn't it?
We should bring that back.
It was a good night for frogs.
We see a lot tonight.
Unfortunately, this place will not look like this in about 10 months.
Most of these frogs will disappear.
Shourder: Tonight's mission is a success, but Mendelson
The Gagliardo team is not out of the woods yet.
The next challenge is how to safely pack some of the greatest parachutists on Earth into carry-on luggage.
Vet Brad Wilson: We have to pack them very firmly so they can't move at all during shipping.
This is a lot of questions that are well known.
They will be very nervous during transportation, during transportation, you will encounter problems with their jumping and rubbing their nose, and then it will lead to open wounds and bacterial infections, which is a big problem.
Unidentified male: precious goods are on board and are in progress.
Are you ready to eat frogs?
Man: Are you ready?
Unidentified male: prepare some frogs at any time. All right.
A moss covered, but very good.
Shourder: Mendelson and gagliado brought back 35 of the 40 species they are looking.
Unidentified men: they have a job in front of them.
Man: What is that?
Unidentified men: their job is to learn how to live in Atlanta, learn how to eat in Atlanta, and then learn how to breed in Atlanta.
Shourd: Early signs are good.
Unknown male: what we have learned here is as a model so that we can quickly implement it elsewhere in the world.
Shourder: The final measure of success will be the one in the Bible that applies to Noah himself, ensuring that surviving members of each species have a healthy, natural habitat that they can return.
Michael Schulder reports on global challenges(END VIDEOTAPE)
Yin: Well, I have to go back to the office now, but I have a good time with you this time.
I'm Eunice Yin. See you soon.
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