In the middle of the crowd, a 17-year-old explains how it works. But he\u2019s not talking about how to play the game, he\u2019s talking about how to make it.<\/p>\n
This is Raspberry Pi, an innovative new education tool that can teach children as young as 5 how to create computer code and program, which lets them create anything from video games to music. The device costs $25 \u2013 way less than a computer, laptop or tablet \u2013 and all you need to plug in is a screen (for example, a TV), a keyboard, a mouse and some power.<\/p>\n
Created in Britain by a group of men who feared the younger generation was losing the ability to control the technology mushrooming around it, Raspberry Pi has snowballed from an idea in 2006 into a movement that is taking the world by storm.<\/p>\n
With the help of UNICEF, the International Education Association, the Education Ministry and the Muna Bustros Foundation, Raspberry Pi was officially launched on Friday in the Middle East as part of the Pi For Learning program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the future,\u201d said 17-year-old Ryan Loukih, a student at Dhour Choueir High School. \u201cThe whole world is going toward coding and programming, and Raspberry Pi simplifies it so that everyone can use it. There are endless possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pilot project in the Lebanese public school in Dhour Choueir teaches students how to use a visual programming language called Scratch, and the older students that have been experimenting with it over the last few months were eager to show off the fruit of their work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis game is like a basic version of pong,\u201d explained Ian Saba, 17, pointing to a screen where a ball was bouncing between two horizontal lines \u2013 essentially a game of ping pong seen from above.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith coding, we can control the rules and bend them to our will, so if he is winning,\u201d Saba smiled and gestured to his work partner, \u201cI can press a button and change the direction of the ball with no warning.\u201d<\/p>\n
For IT teacher Viana Mansour, the introduction of the devices to her computer lab has been revolutionary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey thought that computers were all about social media sites like Facebook and so on, now they know that they can make their own games, animations, music \u2013 anything. \u00a0Children are way more excited to come to IT now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone in the world is looking at this experiment,\u201d Candace Johnson, an American angel investor and high-profile telecommunications entrepreneur, said to those gathered at the launch. \u201cI built my own transistor radio when I was 6, and it put me in a place where I was able to build the world\u2019s largest satellite system. \u00a0If we give young people the ability to code, they will build things in the future that we can\u2019t even imagine now.\u201d<\/p>\n
This message was echoed by UNICEF\u2019s new innovation specialist, James Cranwell-Ward, a key driver behind the agency\u2019s plan to bring Raspberry Pis to schools in neglected parts of Lebanon. \u00a0\u201cYou could potentially give birth to and establish a whole generation of technologists who could go on to build the next Facebook,\u201d he told The Daily Star.<\/p>\n
UNICEF is particularly hoping to target school-aged Syrian refugees, some 300,000 of whom are receiving no education at all because of the lack of capacity, resources and funds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be using the RP as a vehicle to teach basic numeracy, Arabic and science,\u201d Cranwell-Ward \u00a0said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"Cost:](\"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Raspberry-Pi-with-power-and-network-connection-300x220.jpg\")
<\/a>Cost: $25
Value: Priceless<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Venetia Rainey writes from Dhour Choueir, Lebanon: \u00a0In the hallway of Dhour Choueir High School, perched high up in the craggy hills of Mount Lebanon, teenagers cluster around a fist-sized computer chip with wires protruding from various sides. \u00a0On the … Continue reading