Afterschool programs for kids in saudi arabia - Essay Example

?Introduction Saudi Arabia is a very young country with people less than thirty years of age representing around seventy-five percent of the population. This poses both a challenge and a great opportunity for the country to transform itself and grow into a more developed country. For this to happen, the focus has to be on educating youth. While education is developing in Saudi Arabia, kids still don’t have the programs that can help them discover their potential skills and talents. Most kids waste their time during after school time either watching TV or playing video games at home. Having an after school program would be a very positive addition learning in Saudi Arabia. The concept of after school programs is not well developed in Saudi Arabia with very few programs available in the kingdom. According to Hirsch (year), After school programs have shown results of improved “homework completion, better test scores, higher grades, and even better psychological development of the student”. This is the main project that I will pursue as soon as I get back home. I am going back to Saudi Arabia in July 2012. My project will commence as an after school program by September 2013. In the USA, after school programs have seen a tremendous growth in the recent decade. According to an estimate by Afterschool Alliance (2009), “at least 6 million ( eleven percent) of school-age youth regularly participated in after-school programs during School Year 2002-2003”. The numbers of after school programs participants have increased lately with about 8.4 million K?12 children (roughly fifteen-percent) attending afterschool Programs by 2009 (Afterschool Alliance, 2009). There are a many good reasons why parents want their children to attend after-school programs. Primarily, Carver and Iruka (2006) believe that these programs “provide diverse services such as academic instruction, cultural enrichment, safe places to stay, and adult supervision for children “. Bissell (2006) also reports good evidence that participation in after school programs has positive effects on a participant’s educational outcomes. TASC, The After-School Corporation, is a national nonprofit organization based in New York City. It was founded in 1998 to build a citywide K-12 after-school system. TASC created a model for daily after-school programs that community organizations operate in partnership with schools, offering kids sports, arts, academic help and support for their healthy social and emotional development. TASC is dedicated to reversing that inequality and giving every student a fighting chance to succeed. Knowing that most US kids spend eighty-percent of their waking hours outside the school, TASC became determined to fill that gap with a useful activity. Since its establishment, TASC has helped 376,000 New York City kids, supported 486 New York City public schools, partnered with 328 community and cultural organizations and colleges and trained 16,000 community members to work in schools (TAC Annual Report). Education in Saudi Arabia From the time of its foundation in 1932 until now, Saudi Arabia has made tremendous progress in the field of education. In 1925, King Abdulaziz (in his capacity as the King of Najd and Hejaz – before the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) established “the Directorate of Education," the first formally organized educational center under the Ministry of the Interior because there was not enough qualified and educated people to establish an education department that represented what’s now known as the Ministry of Education. During its early years, Saudi Arabia made use of Egyptian assistance; however, not only as an aid for teaching by providing both the manpower as well as the knowhow . Furthermore, it has also helped subsidize the curriculum and organize the Saudi educational system. At that time, the Egyptian educational system was based on the English model; hence, it was but natural to also adopt the same educational model in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s first public school was established in 1925. Schools became what could now be considered as full-pledged elementary schools by the year 1939. At that time, only 2,319 students were enrolled in schools. By 1949, the number of elementary schools in the kingdom reached 182 with a total enrollment of 21,409 students. A new era in the development of modern education began in 1953 with the establishment of the Ministry of Education on December 24, 1953, as part of the Council of Ministers. The Educational System The administration of education is controlled through two main agencies, namely the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education. The Ministry of Education supervises the public pre-university education stages while the Ministry of Higher Education supervises on the higher education university education stages. The basic structure of the educational system in this country is divided into five levels. Children who are aged three to six years old belong to the elementary level. For those whose age is between12-14, they are placed into the intermediate level. Any student aged 15-18 attends secondary level while university level learners are often 19-24 years of age. General education ends at the secondary stage (three-year period) of education in Saudi Arabia. The condition for admission at this stage is a certificate from the intermediate level. The secondary level begins after this stage which is crucial for most students. It is a preparatory for admission to higher education institutions in the kingdom. The elementary level in Saudi Arabia can be completed in six years. Once a child is six years old, then it is admitted as a first grader. Public elementary schools are characterized as day schools. By the end of Grade 6, a student must pass an examination in order to acquire an elementary education certificate (Saudi Arabia, UNESCO). The Ministry of Education and Planning in 2008 reported that 2,442,482 students (1,255,117 male and 1,187,365 female) are in elementary education in 2007 and the number of teachers totals 217,555 (107,227 male and 110,328 female) in 2007 (mep.gov.sa) Indeed, there are many students who may benefit from after school programs. Rationale Behind the After School Program There are good reasons behind my choice of this idea. The concept of after school programs in Saudi Arabia is not well developed yet. Most of the activities in these programs are focused on different sports and art and with less emphasis on computer and web-based programs. This is why I decided to tackle the after school programs with a focus on computer and technological activities. The fact that most of the Saudi youth are becoming computer savvy represents an opportunity to introduce various computer activities. This would foster novelty and innovation in the after school program students’ minds. The time period between three in the afternoon to seven in the evening is not well utilized by most of the elementary school students in the kingdom. This precious time is spent on idle activities such as: watching TV, playing video games, and/ or playing with friends at homes or in the neighborhoods parks. Many students also spend their after school time with the house maids; as a consequence, their behavior is influenced either positively or negatively. Because of all the aforementioned reasons, establishing an after school program in Saudi Arabia, represents a novel idea where students could gain much needed 21st century technology skills. The Importance of After School Programs There are various reasons why after school programs are important. From my research in the United States, it is clear that after school programs play a significant role in the education of students. Some reasons why these programs are important include: To facilitate the growth of young kids by helping develop their knowledge, skills and healthy habits to achieve their greatest potential. Kids who participate in these programs earn higher grades and have improved attendance and often behave better in school. Students have an increased interest in school with the opportunity to engage in new activities along with the opportunity to work with diverse adults to create projects that receive recognition and praise from their peers and families. The opportunity to develop a vision of life's possibilities. Lower the numbers of hours that the kids spend consuming media such as watching TV, or playing video games. (Afterschool Allstars site) Proposed Program (TECH AFTER SCHOOL-ACTIVITES) My plan is to start an After School Program for kids in Saudi Arabia at one of the private elementary schools in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This program will be a for profit project with the intent of getting the best and brightest teachers to join the program Figure 1 shows the homepage of TECH AFTER SCHOOL. Figure 1. The homepage of Tech After School Source: Characteristics of the Elementary Age Group Like many countries worldwide, elementary school students in Saudi Arabia have special requirements to promote their physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual development, which will help shape, their lifelong behaviors. Understanding the characteristics of the elementary school students is very important in developing an afterschool program curriculum capable of meeting a wide range of their needs and interests. The more children are confident and feel positive about themselves toward the end of the elementary period, “the better prepared they are to move on to take more risks and gain a better understanding of themselves in adolescence” (Children How They Grow). These are the common characteristics of this age-group (messac.edu): Physical Characteristics: Growth continues both in weight and height with varying patterns resulting in some differences between boys and girls. This poses a need for understanding and accommodating differences in growth and development by the teachers. Children have an inherent need to move about. Hence, there is a need to provide more opportunity for movement activities to be balanced with movement activities. Mental Characteristics: Attention span of kids continually increase. This results in the need to introduce more complex tasks in the activities provided by the afterschool program. Children are always curious and ask many questions. This requires providing the students with a nurturing environment that provides them with information and resources to help them make informed decisions. They begin to understand increasingly difficult ideas and concepts. This presents an opportunity to gradually introduce more intellectually challenging activities. Emotional Characteristics: They become less selfish. This creates a need to encourage cooperation through group play and exercises. They learn to be more independent. This puts a need to increase individual responsibilities and opportunities for early leadership training. Kids need to feel successful. There is a need to offer encouragement and activities, which provide successful experiences. They may begin to display more hostility and aggression as they go through the struggle to determine their own identity. This poses the need to encourage cooperative skills and alternatives to aggressive behaviors. Children’s behavior may be affected by puberty. There is a need for recognition of differences in development patterns. They tend to get easily upset when they lose in a competitive exercise. Schoolteachers have to foster competition in an appropriate way, and encourage team cooperation and good sportsmanship. They seek attention and approval. There is a need for recognition and positive reinforcement. Many school children in Saudi Arabia have difficulties expressing themselves fully because of the societal pressures by both family and teachers, which consider kids speaking out as lack of manners. All of the above mentioned characteristics should encourage after school programs to provide life-skills training such as decision-making, problem solving, and coping. There is also a need for children to understand that choices have consequences. Recruiting Teachers for the Program After school programs encourage teachers to collaborate with their peers, and provides mentoring and professional development opportunities. Teachers will feel that the flexibility and creativity that they bring to an afterschool program directly transfers to their teaching during the regular school day (After School Programs, US Department of Education). 1- Priority will be given to the Private School's own teachers. 2- Recruiting will include distinguished teachers from other private schools in Jeddah. 3- Recruiting qualified college and university students preferably those with past teaching experience to work on a part-time basis. Teacher Training We are going to offer professional caring staff to support a child’s social and communication development goals.  Training the teachers will take place through different phases: 1. Classroom: This will be done through lectures and presentations on the different programs we are teaching and what best teaching methods and techniques the teachers should use to benefit the students. I would hold a three day teacher training program for all the teachers so they will learn how to utilize and teach the software. The program will be taught by postgraduate computer science university students with special interest in software development. 2. Mentoring: Providing on –the-job mentoring for teachers during the first weeks of starting the program. Mission and goal Helping kids discover their skills, knowledge, and creativity through expanding their learning opportunities in a safe, fun ,and perfect environment Target School kids age from 9-13 year old. This period is critical in childhood development where they experience changes in their academic environment. The transition to middle school can be difficult, and many kids start thinking about college and careers. After School programs help students discover what they might like to do in the future and help them develop a better vision of how their future college life and career might be like. Doing their own project and working hard to finish it will empower the students and help boost their confidence and personalities (education.com). Programs At the beginning of the program, we will hold an introductory presentation to the families of enrolled students. We will discuss the goals and details of the after-school program and answer any questions the parents might have about the program. One animation technique that can make a still object appear as moving is known as Stop Motion Animation. It works by producing an illusion of movement when individually photographed frames are played on a continuous sequence. This would be a perfect addition to after school programs. Many Disney and Pixar films currently use Stop Motion. Using Stop Motion in the classroom is gaining popularity around the world with many schools and teachers adopting stop motion techniques in their curricula. Both educators as well as their students are getting very excited about this new technology because learning with animation is a lot of fun and has benefits in the school program. It teaches soft skills such as teamwork, structural thinking, planning and provides immediate satisfaction. It is also very easy to use, requires less work, and makes the kids use their imagination to express their own stories in a very creative way. There is specific software that helps students produce a stop motion video by simply taking multiple still pictures then loading them in order and the end result will be a stop motion movie produced by kids. See fig. 2 Figure 2. (Say some details about the figure) Figure 2 Stop motion software showing the steps in producing a movie. Source: http://www.animateclay.com/index.php/articles/72-free-downloads/129-anasazi-stop-motion-animator Video Games Design Recently, a growing number of educators have argued that video games design projects provide rich and nurturing opportunities for kids learning. Playing games is an integral part of kids’ development and growth. Utilizing this innate need for children to play by combining playing with learning in the education process has become a very instructive and innovative strategy used by educators and teachers. Since video games are part of today’s culture, we must capitalize on children’s love of playing games in teaching video game programming. According to Kafai (1993), these games trigger kids’ interest because they do not perceive them as part of boring homework or schoolwork, but more of a fun project for them. Resnick (1996) have also cited that a growing number of researchers have shown that design activities provide great learning opportunities for kids like mathematical and scientific concepts (such as number, shape, and size) through direct manipulation of physical object. In fact, one of the popular video games nowadays is a program called Scratch. It is a toolkit that is going to help the kids to create games, stories, and interactive art by stacking up virtual blocks that contain computer code instructions (ROBOLAB). Scratch was developed in 2006 by a tech educator named Professor Mitchel Resnick from MIT. This program allows children to practice constructing and testing through mostly tactile process. Resnick, et.al (2009) describes: The interaction with the program allows children to explore by dragging-and-dropping blocks of conditions (parameters) and of consequences (actions) onto selected agent (sprites) and backgrounds (stages), how interactive animations, presentations, stories, and simple games can be playfully and programmatically created. (p.94) Likewise, we are going to use Game star Mechanic which is a game and online community that teaches kids how to design their own games and that will help the kids share their games with others and explore and discover more ideas. Game star Mechanic is good since: ….allows kids learn how to think analytically and holistically, to experiment and test theories, and to consider other people as part of the systems they create and inhabit. Through the game design process, students cultivate skills involving” system-based thinking, creative problem solving, writing and storytelling” (gamestar.mechanic.com). Figure 3. Homepage of Scratch Figure 3. The home page for the website “Scratch” Sources: Scratch.mit.edu Creating A Robot A robot is a machine designed to execute one or more tasks repeatedly, with speed and precision. Robot building and programming is a natural and thrilling extension of the computer programming activities like video game design that explained earlier. Through building and subsequently programming robots, children are building agents, which they can program to perform a wide variety of different behaviors. Resnick and his group at the MIT media lab started the development of LEGO/Logo project which combined the LEGO Technic product with the Logo programming language. According to Resnick and Occo (1991) it “provides providing children with an environment where they could build and program robots”. As such, we are going to order the logo Robotics kits from USA. We are going to include robotics building activities in the afterschool program through teaching the LEGO Mind storm Kit that includes at its core the RCXTM brick. Basically, an RCX brick can be described as autonomous microcomputer placed within a LEGO Brick (see Fog 4). This allows for programming any LEGO construction game. This can microcontroller-based brick can run three motors, three sensors all at the same time. This is made possible by an infrared serial communications interface. Figure 4. The LEGO RCX Brick. The figure shows a light sensor and the motor that can be used by children to construct robots. In the future, we are also going to add more programs and mobile learning technologies. Today, mobile learning can be a very effective way to engage students to learn using electronic devices such as Netbooks, mobile phones, iPad, and e book readers. Many educators utilize these gadgets for three good reasons: convenience, accessibility, and reasonable price. Harnessing these devices is a great strategy since most students one at least one of these devices nowadays. Plan for After School Programs This plan will be working through a business office that will be handling all the logistics. Several employees will be working on establishing the infrastructure of the After School program. The list will include a finance person and marketing expert. We will coordinate with the schools to achieve our objectives and goals. The budget should cover the startup cost as well as the cost for training the teachers. I will apply for a government sponsored loan called: Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) that supports small businesses. I expect the fund to provide me with $70,000.00 as finance for the startup cost. We are going to buy the software and download them on the school computers. The classrooms in the school will the venue of the workshops. Marketing plan The parents will use the website to register and look for the programs that would be of interest to their kids. Advertisement These are the various stages: 1) Creation of a website that provides all the information regarding the courses we will offer for the after school program and registration. It will also provide the names and locations of the selected schools and tuition for each program. 2) During the summer, the program will be marketed by sending e-mails and text messages to families. 3) During the first week of school, we would be sending booklets and brochures to families with their kids. The program will start after three in the afternoon since the morning school activities finish just before that time. There is no need to arrange for transportation since most kids will be picked up by either parents or family private drivers at the conclusion of the afterschool workshops. I will create a website and name it (TECH AFTER SCHOOL), See Fig 1. The home page will have the following features: About: This will consist of a description of what the after school program is about. It will describe our vision and mission as well as the founding members. Programs: This will include the three programs that we are going to include in the after school program curriculum, namely: Stop Motion: An animation workshop using I Stop motion software which is used to create the animation. Video Games Design and Programming: This section will briefly discuss the significance of creating and making video games using free open source software such as www.gamesalad.com or www.gamestarmechanic.com Create a Robot: This section will discuss the details of creating robots by kids with a special emphasis on Lego Robotics section Contact: Our office address, phone number, fax number, and e-mail address. Registration: This includes the application kit and all the information the parents need it to register their kids in the programs. It also includes information about the fees and how to pay for them using credit card. Parents will also be asked to fill out a health form and a photo/video waiver so that pictures can be taken of the students to use for press and marketing purposes. Staff: This section will include brief biographies of the educational staff. Package: We will charge the families a fee 2,500 US Dollars for the whole academic year for each student. We have two semesters in the school year .the programs will be around twelve weeks each semester. Each class will have around twenty students with minimum number of twelve students expected to join each class. Table 1 Balance sheet for the Project Projected Balance Sheet Assets Cash 70,000,00 Accounts Receivable (AR) 14,000.00 Property, Plant and Equipment (PP&E) 4,000.00 Total Assets 88,000.00 Liabilities Accounts Payable (AP) 30,000.00 Debt 5,000.00 Total Liabilities 35,000.00 Equity Total Shareholders' Equity 30,000.00 Expected outcomes For Kids: The main benefit of our after-school program is to widen the children’s interests. It helps them discover their natural talents and potentials making them more confident; thus, making them more successful in accomplishing tasks or achieving goals. Our program will also enhance the children’s self-esteem because of all the new skills they will acquire. The sense of achievement by the students will act as a powerful motivator for excellence. It will also help the students to learn many new social skills by emphasizing the advantages of team work. On the other hand, the after-school program will help reduce several bad behaviors like: watching too much TV, teen violence, and /or the possibility of dropping out from school. For Families Parents will be comforted that their kids are learning new life modifying skills, and keeping away from many bad behaviors. References "Achievement of the Development Plans Facts and Figures Twenty-Fifth Issue 1390-1429H 1970-2008G". Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ministry of Economics and Planning. 2008. Retrieved April 30, 2012 from http://www.mep.gov.sa/. "Saudi Arabia". World Data on Education. UNESCO IBE. 2006/2007. Retrieved April 20, 2012 from http://www.ibe.unesco.org/Countries/WDE/2006/index.html. After School All Stars. Retrieved May 1 2012 from http://www.afterschoolallstars.org/ site/pp.asp?c=enJJKMNpFmG&b=854685 After School Programs Teacher Programs.Retrieved April 5, 2012 from http://www.education.com/topic/academic-development-ages-10-13/. Afterschool Alliance. (2003). Afterschool Alliance backgrounder: Formal evaluations of afterschool programs. Washington, DC: Afterschool Alliance. Retrieved April 10, 2012 from www.afterschoolalliance.org/issuebr.cfm. Al-Awwal, R. (2006, April 6). Al-Muhajabah's Islamic Blogs: young people and the future of Saudi Arabia.Al-Muhajabah's Islamic Pages. Retrieved April 25, 2012, from http://www.muhajabah.com/islamicblog/ Apple Computer Website. ROBOLAB. Retrieved May 1 2012 from http://www.apple.com/ education/LTReview/spring99/robolab/ Bissell, Joan S. 2002. Evaluation of California’s After School Learning and Safe Carver P., Iruka I.U. After-school programs and activities: 2005 (NCES 2006- 076). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC (2006). Children: How They Grow, Elementary School Children Ages 6 to 8, Karen B. DeBord Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Missouri-Columbia. Retrieved April 27, 2012 from http://www.classbrain.com/ artread/ publish/ article_36.shtml Developmental Psychology Student NetLetter. Retrieved April 30 2012 from http://www.mesacc.edu/dept/d46/psy/dev/index.html#stages GAMESTAR MECHANIC. Retrieved April 30 2012 from http://gamestarmechanic.com. Hirsch, B. J. (2011). Learning and Development in After-School Programs. Phi Delta Kappan, 92(5), 66-69. Kafai, Y. (1993). Minds in Play: Computer Game Design as a Context for Children’s Learning. Ph.D. Dissertation. MIT Media Laboratory. Neighborhoods Partnership Program: 1999-2001. Department of Education, University of California, Irvine. Resnick, M. and Ocko, S. (1991) LEGO/Logo: Learning Through and About Design. In Constructionism, edited by I. Harel & S. Papert. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing. Resnick, M., Rusk, N. (1996). The Computer Clubhouse: Preparing for Life in a Digital World. IBM Systems Journal 35(3/4). 431-439. Resnick, M., Maloney, J., Monroy-Hernandez, A., Rusk, N., Eastmond, E., Brennan, K., Millner, A., Rosenbaum, E., Silver, J., Silverman, B., Kafai, Y. (2009). Scratch: Programming for All. Communications of the ACM, November 2009 TASC Annual Report 2010. Retrieved April 16, 2012 from http://www.tascorp.org/ section/what_we_do US Department of Education (1999) Teacher Recruitment and Training in After-School Programs. Retrieved from April 30, 2012 from http://www.ed.gov/pubs/ The Loan The Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) was established in 1974. It plays a pivotal role in supporting small and intermediate businesses in the kingdom. SIDF supports small businesses by providing both medium and long term loans to investors as well as offering technical and financial advice at the highest professional levels to borrowers. SIDF encourages investments in projects that: -Introduce new technologies to the Kingdom -Friendly to the environment -Support local industry -Create employment/training opportunities for local workforce -Offer alternatives to imports -Export-oriented -Promote development of the Kingdom’s natural resources These are some of the documents required for submission. Based on our projected assessment, we expect the fund to provide us seventy-five percent of the startup cost. The remaining twenty-five percent will come from my family along my personal savings. The loan repayment period ranges from five years to twenty years depending on project’s cash flow. Timeline for the Afterschool project: September -December 2-12: -Locating the right private school to implement the program -Signing of contract with the school -Acquiring the loan -Ordering all the software and materials needed for the program. -Initial screening of employees January-March, 2013: -Interview the employees -Hire the staff - Create the website for the program April-June, 2013: -Interview teachers -Hiring teachers who passed the screening -Preparing the brochures and other relevant materials - Download all the programs on the computers. July-Sept, 2013: -Training the teachers -Finalizing the classrooms’ decoration -Sending brochures to families with students Sept, 2013: -Start of the program Expected outcomes For the learners: Learn the brainstorming process which encourages kids to ask questions and use their imagination Learn the basics of research methodology Learn how to solve problems and generate ideas Learn to use language effectively to elaborate their own ideas and develop their own concepts Develop communication and language skills through the acquisition of new vocabulary relating to animation and moviemaking in general as well as familiarizing oneself with relevant software Learn various techniques involved in editing sound effects and music Learn to work as a team while discovering and promoting individual strengths within the team at the same time Learn various visual techniques used in mass media Learn to cultivate various social skills by emphasizing the advantages of teamwork Modify unproductive behaviors such as watching too much TV and engaging in activities that promote teen violence Enhance the children’s self-esteem as brought by all the new skills acquired For teachers: Understand concepts of digital media. Gain knowledge about various media types, software resources, and techniques used to create digital media products Develop team building skills and promote personal development while working within a team Curriculum: In the first year of our after school programs, we will start with only one program. The focus would be on stop motion animation movies because teaching the kids all the digital programs all at once will be difficult for both students and teachers. This will also function as a pilot project to test the experience and the outcomes we will have as a result of this program. It shall be called Level 1. Once the students are done with level one, they will register for the second program called Level 2. The second program involves video game design. Here is a description of the different levels: First semester: (Level One) Teaching the kids about the software and methods on using it How to make storyboard using brainstorming Group interaction and discussion that promotes communication to create a story Teacher’s guidance of the children to create the story from scratch Sourcing the materials needed to make the stop motion animation movie Starting the process or initiating the stop motion movie project Solving any problems with assistance from teachers Second semester: (Level Two) Learning techniques on advance editing skills Apply lighting and other atmosphere modifying techniques Add music or any sound effect to the stop motion movie Read More