Intel-powered classmate PC – expanding education opportunities

Balanced Relationships in Campinas, Brazil

In a classmate PC-equipped classroom at the Bradesco Foundation, Campinas, Brazil, one of the school’s teachers employed a computer application in a Portuguese lesson that allowed students to create animations to represent the text they were reading. One of the students was then asked to share her animation with the class via a linked SmartBoard. When technical difficulties ensued, the teacher asked if one of the other students could help. A boy who had become the resident "classmate PC expert" volunteered and fixed the problem in less than a minute. In traditional classrooms, there is usually an uneven relationship between teacher and students. Classmate PC classrooms often experience a shift toward a more balanced relationship between the two as students take more responsibility for their own learning.