Thursday, February 15th, 2007
True or False?
As part of my work to integrate HIV/AIDS and Life Skills topics into the secondary school curriculum, I have been meeting with various classes this week and introducing a simple game, “True or False.” The students are put into small groups and each group is given a handful of paper slips with statements about HIV and AIDS. They are also given two larger pieces of paper: one that says “True” and one that says “False.” As a group, students are to discuss the statements (i.e. There is no cure for AIDS; AIDS is caused by the HIV virus; and so on) and decide where the statements belong. This activity, though simple, seems to work well with the Deaf. For one, they are able to discuss and process the statements amongst themselves in their most comfortable language—Kenyan Sign Language. It also gives me the chance to hang back and watch the students interact with each other. I have caught some interesting dialogue in the process! When the students have finished sorting their piles of paper, we discuss as a class and I clarify any misinformation as much as possible. More importantly, the results of the game help to chart the direction of future classes.
I was shocked to find that of the three classes in which I have played this game, each group presented the following among their responses:
You can be cured of AIDS by having sex with a virgin. True
Deaf people can get the HIV virus. False
Yikes! It looks like I have my work cut out for me. Sam and I are working on developing a computer version of this game that includes a video of a Deaf person signing the statements. The student then responds by click on a True or False button. The game will keep track of student responses and can even track the responses of an entire school. We are very pleased to be applying the skills we used to develop online courses for the University of North Carolina in a setting that so desperately needs visually-driven learning materials.