One Tablet Per Child

Imagine children learning to read without a school, teachers, or books. Impossible? Nicholas Negroponte aims to find out. This spring the One Laptop per Child founder, with researchers at Tufts University and the MIT Media Lab, arranged for a bundle of solar-powered tablets (the Yves Behar-designed XO 3.0) to be dropped into the Ethiopian village of Wolenchite, where there is no electricity and essentially zero literacy. With no instruction, kids ages 4 through 12 began using the devices. "It took the first child 15 minutes to figure out how to turn it on," Negroponte says. "Within three more minutes all20 of the children had turned them on." Data about how the kids use the tablets is recorded on SIM cards that are swapped out weekly and sent to the US for analysis. After the first week, the new learners were using 47 of the apps. Two weeks later, they were reciting the alphabet out loud. But can devices alone help kids go from ABCs to critical reading and comprehension? "That is the question:' Negro ponte says. "We'll know in six months to a year.” -Eric Steuer