The Global Digital Library now offers resources in mathematics from Early Math through Grade 3! Early Math consists of 51 topics with instructional videos, interactive math games and level up tasks for each topic sequenced in order from “Counting” to “Fractions of shapes”. Grade 2 has 32 topics, including the topics “Data”, “Measurement” and “Geometry”. Grade 3 has another 65 topics, where the topics “Area”, “Perimeter” and “Fractions” are introduced. With more than 300 instructional videos, more than 500 interactive math games and close to 900 math resources, the Global Digital Library makes learning math fun and 100% free!
Each topic has a featured video where essential math content within the topic is presented. There are additional instructional videos, as well as interactive math games where children can practice their math skills. Many of the math games have beautiful illustrations that add to the content and help the children solve the math problems they are presented with. Each game also has an alternative text, which is primary for visually impaired children. A level up task is furthermore included in each topic, a test where the children are presented with various parts of the topic. To move to the next level or topic, the children must complete more than 80% of the level up task.
The children can use our adaptive learning experience at their own pace. When doing so, we award progress by giving the children badges as they master new topics. It takes less than 2 minutes to register, and each time your child or student masters a topic, you get an email. This way, teachers and students, and parents and children can celebrate the learning progress together!
A recent intervention by the World Bank that provided children with cell phones preloaded with two GDL content and the game Feed The Monster, these are solutions developed with support and funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development and All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (ACR GCD), provides compelling evidence that EdTech can improve reading outcomes for children in low resource contexts in as little as five days, with learning outcomes continuing to improve one month out.
The DIME Movies and Mobiles study engaged 9,000 Nigerian households with children between the ages of 6 to 9 with film screenings aimed at motivating parents to support their children’s education and reshape attitudes around gender bias along with a lottery, in which one-third of the participants received smartphones preloaded with access to the Global Digital Library (GDL) and Feed the Monster. During the 5-day intervention and one-month follow-up, the children who received the phones as well as their siblings, saw substantially increased literacy and numeracy test scores, leading the World Bank to recommend that EdTech interventions like this should be considered in programs and projects addressing literacy, education and child protection.
Today, the open-source online platform the Global Digital Library is home to more than 8000 books in 100 languages, all of which can be read and translated on web and mobile platforms as well as downloaded or printed.
Feed the Monster was developed in 2016 during the EduApp4Syria Prize, which was jointly funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), the mobile operator Orange, and the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE).
The project sought the development of smartphone apps to build foundational literacy skills and to improve psychosocial well-being for Syrian refugee children who were out of, or struggling in school. When evaluating the impact of Feed the Monster, Research has found that children using the app scored higher on oral reading fluency, which is a strong predictor of reading comprehension. Data also showed girls making gains, indicating that the app could provide girls who are denied other opportunities a chance to acquire and improve literacy skills.
In an online presentation about the intervention, the World Bank reported on the background and key findings of the low-cost, light-intervention study.
In northern Nigeria, the location of the intervention, 40% of adults lack formal education and less than 10% of parents read to their children. Only around 50% of the children attend primary school, around 35% of girls get married before turning 15, and the language used at school is rarely the one spoken in the home. Zero scores are common in third grade literacy tests. In other words, students could not read one single word in this language.
The Movies & Mobiles intervention included two components: aspirational films to reshape parents’ educational and gender attitudes, and $40 smartphones preloaded with GDL and Feed the Monster to increase the number of “study hours” available to children. Through a public lottery, one third of those who attended the films won a smartphone and picked them up in digital literacy sessions.
Researchers invited households living close to schools to the locations for community screenings of the films, which took place over weekends. Around 90% of the households that were invited attended the screenings, and 100% of those who won smartphones, picked them up.
When evaluating the data collected from the study, the World Bank reported that the aspirational films had a positive effect on parents’ attitudes on education and gender. School attendance increased by 34%. In addition, parents’ attitudes around girls shifted, with a 6% increase in parents’ aspirations to allow girls to attend school at 15, and up to a 16% increase in parents’ preference to delay daughters’ marriage age.
Notably, the children who also received the preloaded smartphones saw significantly improved learning outcomes. After using the apps for an average of around 8 hours during the first week, the children scored higher in a series of Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) modules; aggregating eight modules, the World Bank reported literacy impacts of .18 standard deviations.*
There was also a spillover effect on siblings from 6 to 12 years old. The World Bank reported a 10% decrease in zero scores in letter recognition, only slightly lower than the 11.3 decrease for the child receiving the phone. Siblings also saw a .16 – .23 stand deviation increase in numeracy modules. In other words, the use of the preloaded smartphones had a statistically significant effect of improving reading both with the children receiving the phones and their siblings.
In addition, households in which children received the preloaded smartphones saw a 22% increase in parents reading to their children, and a 25% decrease in the belief that parental education is an obstacle for helping their children learn.
The World Bank researchers concluded that low cost and light interventions utilizing EdTech solutions can have a significant impact on literacy for children in low resource contexts. While longer interventions, like learning camps with volunteers, can be more effective, they also require higher cost and more effort. To address the learning crises exacerbated by the pandemic, the researchers recommended the acceleration of testing mobile-based solutions for both offline and online populations.
The Ministry of Education of Bangladesh translated over 300 children’s books from English into Bangla and 100 books into five ethnic minority languages (Chakma, Marma, Garo, Tripura and Sadri) in the framework of the Translate A Story campaign. This was a book translation campaign to facilitate home-based early age reading. The campaign was a collaboration between UNESCO and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), with the support of other partners. As part of this initiative, UNESCO and partners convened dedicated translation webinars for governmental agencies and individual translators who were interested in translating reading materials from English into relevant national languages. All translated books underwent a quality assurance process and were made freely available on the GDL platform. With relevant preparations and expertise made available from the governmental agencies, translated books can be aligned with curriculum standards, so that the books quickly can be approved for later use in the classroom or on the national platform.
The Aspire to Innovate (a2i) Programme, the Bangladesh government’s flagship digital transformation program, supported the translation in Bangladesh. Over 100 voluntary teachers and students were mobilized to translate the books. To guide them through the translation process using the online translation interface of the Global Digital Library, UNESCO and Norad organized an online workshop which was attended by 150 participants.
The cooperation between UNESCO and Norad on Translate A Story has been led and implemented by the Unit for Technology and AI in Education, Future of Learning and Innovation Team of the Education Sector. According to Dr. Fengchun Miao, Chief of the Unit, Bangladesh is leading in the number of books translated, followed by Palestine which translated 244 books into Arabic, and then Uzbekistan which translated 130 books into Uzbek and 100 books into Russian. UNESCO is also working with Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan and Qatar. As a next step, UNESCO will follow up on the actual use of the books in the local context, through online facilitation via the GDL and offline support. UNESCO also seeks to create a list of inclusive digital storybooks in mother-tongue languages approved by governments.
Once the outdoor temperature begins to dip, many students decide to stay indoors in warm conditions. But the problem is that typical university dorm rooms hardly ever are well organized and prepared for cold weather. But fortunately, there’s no need to let things stay at that point. We gathered these 9 tips to help you with a transition to cooler temperatures and make your room especially cozy for winter.
1. Provide yourself with Blankets
When it’s cold outside, it traditionally translates to it being cold inside when it comes to the dorm rooms. The winter can be terribly cold, depending on the place you live. Specifically, if your room is located in a more aged building, the construction of dorm rooms usually calls for minor insulation. That is why the more blankets you can get, the more coziness and warm conditions you will create as a result. Surrounding yourself with layers of plush, soft blankets is the best way to stay nice and cozy inside your dorm room. Moreover, you can use them while you’re with your friends or watching TV.
Also, to maximize warmth, you should rearrange your blankets, placing them over your sheet and under your comforter. And even the coldest nights won’t be troublesome for you.
2. Get thick pleasant Rugs and Sheets
Unmistakably, your room floor can become unbearably cold during the winter season. But you can prevent heat loss in the room by using additional weatherization practices. A rug alone won’t rapidly change the room temperature, but it can make your feet warmer and more comfortable walking around.
Another simple action you can do to stay a little warmer is to change your sheets. Investing in a good pair of flannel sheets would be a nice choice to use your body heat to stay way warmer during cold winter nights.
3. Wear warm clothes
It’s important to avoid catching a cold. You should visit your local mall, where you’ll find numerous clothes and accessories for winter, like, fuzzy socks that can instantly warm your feet, thick sweaters, or cute joggers.
4. Acquire a Humidifier
Winter usually dries the air, and depending on your skin sensitivity; you might find it dryer and more sensitive. But you can avoid situations with your nose’s bleeding or your skin dry by purchasing a humidifier.
A humidifier helps you moisturize the air, which can come in handy in winter conditions. Even the small ones can be enough for a room of any size. In case you have a roommate, you can team up and buy a nice one together.
5. Regulate the temp of the room heating
Many dorms already have settled central temperature regulators, which makes it impossible to set the wanted temperature. Nevertheless, if your room has a temperature regulator, you should understand how it works. We are sure that you dislike waking up with a strong feeling of coldness and then trying to learn how to operate your regulator for the first time, so that is why such knowledge is necessary.
6. Get Scented Sprays
Keeping warm during winter within your room walls demands you keep your window shut. And as a result, your room might begin to smell and feel a bit suffocating. This is easy to understand, so to dodge this, you might want to consider getting scented sprays, that will make your room way more liveable while bundled up in your dorm.
7. Provide yourself with a Kettle
Sometimes the winter’s weather can be devastating, even when you cover yourself with all possible blankets and wear your warmest clothes. In the morning or after finishing your studies, you might feel the need to drink some warm cocoa or tea to keep your body temperature up.
One of the biggest advantages of having a kettle is that you don’t have to leave the comfort of your room to make tasty warm drinks. Moreover, you can also purchase a thermos to carry any kind of warm drink wherever you go. This can be a real lifesaver when temperatures are getting low.
8. Go out of your dorm room from time to time
It’s pretty challenging staying in your dorm all the time since it can take a toll on your mental health, particularly if you live with a roommate. And such conditions can build up unhealthy tension, and you sometimes might want to go out of your room for some air.
For instance, you can visit the local library to study any kind of paper or assignment. You can also have a nice pastime in the cafe or another friend’s dorm to have a laugh and simply relax. And if you are concerned about questions like who can do my math homework, there are many websites and services that offer help with math homework, from online tutors to pre-written solutions. These resources can help students to understand difficult concepts, complete their assignments on time, and achieve success in their math classes.
9. Wear gloves or a hat even while inside
It’s hard not to see the importance of wearing a hat or gloves in the winter, especially outside. But winter cold can make modifications to our usual home style. It’s important to keep warm, and gloves with a hat, even inside, are an excellent choice to make. If you keep your hands warm, it’ll make your whole body feel warmer. What is more, gloves can also be incredibly useful for your skin since you can put your adorable lotion on your hands, put on the gloves, and enjoy your day. And a hat can become a cool additional part of your outfit, simultaneously keeping your head warm.
Conclusion
Throughout their university years, students tend to face many challenges. It can be the weather if it isn’t personal life or academic-related problems. Anyway, you have to be ready for each of these challenges. The same relates to weather conditions.
Hopefully, our article has given you recommendations you can use to prepare your dorm room for winter.
Ha gujo nabbabo maxaafay Yuu Essi Eyidiyappe (USAID) beettida miishshaa maaduwan Seev Ze Childdirenee (Save the Children), Luxettaa Moconaynne Toohossa Dalgga Manttiya Luxettaa Beeroy issippe hashetin giigidi attamettidaagaa. 2008 M.L.
