Mar 2008 Newsletter: Pangaea ring - Ms. Fitri Suraya Mohamad
This month Pangaea Ring Writer is Fitri, from the Universiti Malaysia
Sarawak. She is one of the main staff at the Malaysia base. I appreciate
her understanding of Pangaea activity and her quick & precise response.
Thank you very much.
Hello and Apa Khabar everyone! My name is Fitri Mohamad, and I teach at
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS, for short). We have just completed
our very first Pangaea activity with 22 local school children in our
district on Saturday, 7th February 2009. We have 34 facilitators and
4 technical persons on board, all enthusiastic about the opportunity to
be part of the Pangaea @ Unimas. We were pleased to play host to Yumi and
Toshi, who came all the way from Japan, and in that one week in Kuching,
both of them are already hooked on our delicious local specialty, Laksa
Sarawak!
It is a wonderfully refreshing experience to see how technology is used as a tool to affect the ways humans act and think. Pangaea gives a safe and exciting environment for kids to explore the world through the use of creative pictographs, personal artwork and collaborative activities. Even though our Unimas kids have not had the chance to send messages to other Pangaeans yet, all of them are very excited to be part of Pangaea, to learn to communicate with other children from different cultural, social, economical, educational and historical backgrounds from countries around the world. Our children have started working on their "House" and "Room" drawings, and pretty soon, everyone on PangaeaNet will be able to see their colourful artwork online. Though technology is used to establish the connection between the countries to PangaeaNet, it is the children's involvement in various Pangaea activities which make the technology disappear in the background. This is a rare chance to experience how children reach in within themselves to reach out to the world, and using technology collaboratively with a meaningful shared goal of achieving world peace.
Currently, we are planning for the coming Pangaea activities for the rest of 2009, and hopefully we will "meet" other Pangaeans online very soon. When the Unimas team is ready, Pangaea is planned for roll-out to other locations in Sarawak, specifically to a number of remote communities on the Borneo island. It is hoped that Pangaea becomes a catalyst to open the minds and hearts of these kids, and other kids-at-heart around them, one Pangaea activity at a time.
Fitri Suraya Mohamad
Faculty of Cognitive Science and Human Development
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)
It is a wonderfully refreshing experience to see how technology is used as a tool to affect the ways humans act and think. Pangaea gives a safe and exciting environment for kids to explore the world through the use of creative pictographs, personal artwork and collaborative activities. Even though our Unimas kids have not had the chance to send messages to other Pangaeans yet, all of them are very excited to be part of Pangaea, to learn to communicate with other children from different cultural, social, economical, educational and historical backgrounds from countries around the world. Our children have started working on their "House" and "Room" drawings, and pretty soon, everyone on PangaeaNet will be able to see their colourful artwork online. Though technology is used to establish the connection between the countries to PangaeaNet, it is the children's involvement in various Pangaea activities which make the technology disappear in the background. This is a rare chance to experience how children reach in within themselves to reach out to the world, and using technology collaboratively with a meaningful shared goal of achieving world peace.
Currently, we are planning for the coming Pangaea activities for the rest of 2009, and hopefully we will "meet" other Pangaeans online very soon. When the Unimas team is ready, Pangaea is planned for roll-out to other locations in Sarawak, specifically to a number of remote communities on the Borneo island. It is hoped that Pangaea becomes a catalyst to open the minds and hearts of these kids, and other kids-at-heart around them, one Pangaea activity at a time.
Fitri Suraya Mohamad
Faculty of Cognitive Science and Human Development
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)
Posted by: kumakinoko | 3. Newsletter , 4. Pangaea Ring
