One week before finals almost 60 freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior Stevenson University School of Education majors gathered on the Greenspring Campus to make mathematics games for children living in poverty in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Dice were rolling and the scissors were in high demand as students cut and assembled more than 100 “Math in a Bag” kits. Thanks to the generous donations of manipulatives by the Hand2Mind Company, math games included many hands on materials for the Indonesian children to enjoy.
The service-learning project was sponsored by the freshmen School of Education class when they learned about the non-governmental organization, readwritecount, whose mission is to educate children in mathematics and English in the neediest neighborhoods to prevent them from dropping out of school as young as 10years old.
The evening culminated with a Skype session with the readwritecount founder, Philipe Donze and his manager, Tiwi. They described the education system in Indonesia and answered questions from the SU students. Sophomore Lacey Esposito exclaimed “I felt that the Jakarta project was a very rewarding experience! I was so happy to be part of it and promote education in another country!” School of Education students are busy planning a literacy event for this special group of children this fall. If you are interested in learning more information, please contact Beth Kobett at bkobett@stevenson.edu.