Session:
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Best Practices in Educational Technology II
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Paper Type:
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Contributed
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Title:
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The S-Lab’s Lab in a Box: A Potential Game Changer for Rural Schools in the Developing World
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Meeting:
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2015 Summer Meeting: College Park, Maryland |
Location:
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N/A |
Date:
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Time:
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3:00PM
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Author:
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Stephen J. Mecca, Providence College
4018652099, smecca@providence.edu
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Co-Author(s):
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Megan Skrpek, Elizabeth J. Degaray, Brittany J. Mandeville, et al
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Abstract:
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The S-Lab’s Lab-in-a-Box features a computer lab hosting a rich set of educational resources (the GSAP Portal) for Internet- and electricity-deprived schools. The first version of the portal being prototyped in Ghana includes the Rachel initiative on a 32-GB file set. The portal has been expanded to a 64-GB drive hosted on a Raspberry Pi server or directly on a PC or Laptop and its elements have been mapped to the Ghana school curriculum. The original powering option which consisted of solar collector and lead-acid battery was re-designed to eliminate the 12v-to-5v conversion making use of LiPo battery packs with significant improvements in energy, costs, weight and size. The system was also extended to bring science activities to the schools using available (Android) tablet sensors and instrument-analysis-reference-simulation- APPs. Small grants including an AAPT Bauder grant have enabled the addition of selected instruments complementing the resources of the package.
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Footnotes:
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The full authorship of this paper is:
Stephen Mecca, Megan Skrypek, Elizabeth Degaray, Brittany Mandeville, Nicole Boyd, Michelle Feely, Jack Ricci, Delina Auciello, Kerry McIntyr
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Presentation:
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The S-Lab’s Lab in a Box.pdf
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