LUKU 5 B

Children as Agents for Social Change: A technologysupported pedagogical framework

Amit Roy
University of Eastern Finland, Finland

Jarkko Suhonen
University of Eastern Finland, Finland

Mikko Vesisenaho
University of Jyvskyl, Finland

A b s t r ac t
Social problems in a society exist in background to most educational setups. Though some text-based learning about pressing social problems may take place in regular education, quality learning about these problems is vital for sustainability as well as healthy development of the society. Quality learning about authentic problems may need deep knowledge, ability to think critically about the problem and the skills to come up with possible solutions. Quality learning about social problems is not achieved in many countries because of a shortage teachers and/or expertise among available teachers about these issues. Inadequate education may lead to maintenance and even aggravation of the problems. Non-western cultures may also have authentic latchkeys to solve their own problems. Driven by un-wholistic economic foundations of the global economy, which is Western in nature, many ICT driven projects happen to disrespect the diversity of cultures and local adaptability of solutions, and promote cultural imperialism. Working-level local experts in problem domains are knowledgeable resources who understand the acute social problems at local level. In this paper, we propose a pedagogical framework, Children as Agents for Social Change (CASC), that combines information and communication technologies (ICTs) with constructivist educational practices in order to promote quality

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learning about social issues among middle and high school children. The framework connects learners to an authentic issue coming from their local context, which is explained by the working-level experts in their local language. Learning about the social problem is also supported through multimedia technologies in order to explain complex issues in simpler ways. The CASC framework can be largely independent of the kind of problem being explained. Assisted by supporting technology, CASC pedagogy can make students more responsible in their behaviour towards social problems in their own community, and ultimately will lead to a better quality of life in a community. In this paper, we will also briefly share some of the first results of applying the CASC framework in Tanzania in order to promote learning about authentic problems related to forest fires. Key words: CASC framework, CASC pedagogy, ICT4E, ICT4D, transformative education, role of technology in transformative education

Introduction
Stephen Sterling (Sterling, 2011) suggests that any educational system tends to have at least four main functions that affect its policy, theory and practice: the socialisation function, the vocational function, the liberal function and the transformative function. The latter, the transformative education, is concerned with inculcating and encouraging change towards a fairer society and a better world. Sterling mentions that first two of these four functions the socialisation and vocational ones tend to emphasise instrumental values, i.e. they suggest education as a means to an end. They stress on vocations and economic competitiveness of the future work force in the global economy. The latter two of these functions which may also be labelled under liberal humanist view of education tend to emphasise intrinsic values, i.e. education as a good in itself with inherent value and meaning. For a balanced growth of society, both instrumental and intrinsic views are to be given equal importance. However, in practice, the four functions keep struggling and competing against each other. In recent times, when most governments around the world are trying to adjust to the demands of global markets and enhance international competitiveness, liberal and transformative functions of education often get neglected. Education in most countries is highly concentrated on achievement of academic excellence, while other important aims of education such as educating students properly about the problems in their own society and local community are often ignored (see Gyekye, 1997; Sutinen & Vesisenaho 2006; Pulkkinen, 2007; Vesisenaho, 2009). Ignoring the need for a wholesome education not only promotes the factory model of education; it also promotes ones alienation from living issues of social, ecological and cultural concerns as well as ethical responsibilities that we must have for one another and the world around us. Quality education for social responsibility must promote knowledge, ability to think critically and skills to act through democratic and participative ways. Though often verbalised as important it is nevertheless a generally ignored educational objective of the development models. In this article, we propose a Children as Agents of Social Change (CASC) framework which combines information and communication technologies (ICT) with constructivist learn-

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ing practices to promote transformative education in a culturally sensitive way. The aim of the article is to introduce the CASC framework and discuss the first results of using the framework in real-life learning settings. The objectives of this study can be summed into the following questions: (1) How can ICT be used to connect expertise of a relevant social problem to middle and high school children? and (2) How can ICT and contemporary educational practices be used to support transformative education among middle and high school children? The article is constructed as follows: first, we discuss the challenges and possibilities of transformative education in developing countries; second, we describe the CASC framework, including its components and pedagogical solutions; then, we discuss the first experiments of applying the CASC framework; finally, we conclude with the results of the study.

C h a l l e n g e s a n d p o ss i b i l i t i e s o f t r a n s fo r m at i v e e d u c at i o n
Transformative view of education has been endorsed by philosophers (such as Jiddu Krishnamurti, Paulo Frerie and John Dewey) and psychologists (such as Howard Gardner) who refer it to as the institution designed to change minds (Dewey, 1916; Freire, 2000; Krishnamurti, 2002; Gardner, 2006). Nobel Prize winner economist James Heckmann suggests that investment in childhood development is a sensible way to reduce costs and create economic growth (Heckman, 2008). We agree that education is a powerful solution to promote change for the better world. In practice, however, philosophies are set aside and the chief objective of most educational systems is mainly concentrated on hitting the bulls-eyes of academic test performance. Most of the other aims of education, including the principles of transformative education, are secondary in nature. This is especially true in most developing countries. In addition, the challenges in the field of education, particularly in developing countries, are multidimensional, ranging from improvements in PISA scores to preparing the students to meet the challenges that exist within the society. In a developing country, any serious educational policy makers ability to bring transformative education to schools is seriously obstructed by two problems: (1) there are not enough teachers and (2) the available teachers often do not have knowledge, expertise or interest to teach about the pressing social problems in their society (Tooley, 2009). In both cases, school education ends up neglecting quality education about issues of actual social importance. This creates a serious gap as it leaves the child with unclear ideas about the problems existing within their own societies, as well as prevents the children from a deeper understanding of real and pressing social problems. Since the aim of education is to prepare the children for life, this situation is problematic. It would be reasonable to deduce that lack of quality transformative education contributes to sustaining and maintaining the problems in the society and, hence, impeding actual development. Though there is a systematic lack of support to quality transformative education, educators around the world, have been waiting for some opportunity to connect the children to the society in different ways. In addition, various international organisations such as United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), non gov-

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ernment organisations (NGOs) or individuals working in such a critical field may want to promote transformative awareness in their own respective field through education. This assumption can be verified in the success of transformative pedagogical models like Design for Change (DfC). DfC claims to be the largest global movement designed to give children an opportunity to express their own ideas for a better world and put them into action. The concept of DfC was formulated by Kiran Bir Sethi, a teacher and social-entrepreneur based in Ahemadabad, Gujarat in India. DfC sees itself as a process that gives children an opportunity to express their own ideas for a better world and put them into action (Design for Change, 2013, para. 1) and aims to train students in the Gandhian principle of be the change you want to see (Drenttel, 2010, image 3: M. K. Gandhi, motto for Design for Change Contest, 2009). Sethis DfC is an implementation of Howard Gardners Disciplinary Thinking and gives the participants an opportunity to find a task for social good. DfC approach can be concentrated into four key aspects: Feel (find a problem), Imagine (imagine a solution), Do (act out the solution) and Share (share it with others) ((DfC Concept Note, 2013, para. 3). Though DfC started in India, in 2011, it reached 33 countries and over 300,000 schools inspiring hundreds of thousands of children, their teachers and parents (Drenttel, 2010; Design for Change, 2012). In our opinion, the model is well designed and follows contemporary social-constructivist learning principles. However, we argue that DfC is too open to absorb any kind of social issue and that it is not focused on any single problem while in the CASC framework the purpose is to put emphasis on one well-defined social problem in a local context. One or more social problems are predominant in almost all countries. If an educational system, an educational institution or members of the society want to provide quality education about any such problems to their youngsters so that they understand the patterns of behaviour aggravating the problem and the implications of these problems well they may want to organise the learning experience based on one central problem or theme. An example of theme based education can be UNESCO Decade of Education (DoE) programme; the theme for the DoE programme from 20052014 is Education for Sustainable Development (Decade of Education for Sustainable Development [DESD], 2012). We think that technology supported initiatives using the basic DfC guidelines can be used for theme based education and may help put a laser like sharp focus on a single social problem across a region. This approach may ensure an intense effect and can reach far and wide.

C h i l d r e n a s Ag e n t s o f S o c ia l C h a n g e fr a m e wo r k : Co m b i n i n g I CT s a n d au t h e n t i c s o c ia l pr o b l e m s fr o m lo c a l co n t e x t
The basic hypothesis-on-probation of CASC posits that a pedagogical framework that combines ICTs with problem-based pedagogical approach promotes awareness and critical thinking skills among middle and high school children (Kozma, 2005). The framework can be largely independent of the kind of problem to be explained to the children. We are aware that several ICT based initiatives have not been very successful in social domains, but our focus is to find an ICT solution that is relevant and meaningful in a given learning

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setting (Kozma, 2005; Day & Greenwood, 2009). We also argue that quality transformative education provides expert knowledge to the students, encouraging them to think critically and learn by doing some action. The main principles of the CASC framework are summarised in the following points: 1. Social problems exist as a background to any educational setup. Quality learning about social problems is vital for advancement of the society. Programmes like Decade of Education from UNESCO identify that learning about issues of social importance is an important educational objective. 2. Shortage of teachers and lack of expertise among teachers. There is a huge need for teachers in developing countries (Olson, Codde, deMaagd, Tarkelson, Sinclair, Yook, & Egidio, 2011). On the other hand, teachers are mostly busy with meeting academic goals and may lack time, interest, capability or hands-on experiences when it comes to dealing with actual issues of social importance. 3. Focus on authentic local problems. Models like Design for Change present strong evidence that children feel connected to their local context. In the long run, understanding the underlying principles that lead to a social problem is an essential part of learning. Therefore, CASC combines contemporary constructivist pedagogical practices like project-based learning with ICT. Previous research has identified that PBL can equip students with skills in critical thinking, collaboration, communication and problem solving (Gibson, OReilly, & Hughes, 2002; Chung & Chow, 2004; Chang & Lee, 2010; Hogue, Kapralos, & Desjardins, 2011). 4. Emphasising responsibility. Achieving educational objectives can make people (current and future citizens) more responsible in their behaviour towards local social problems, leading to a better quality of life in a community.

CASC pedagogical approach

The pedagogical approach in the CASC framework is based contemporary educational principles, such as problem-based learning (PBL) or inquiry learning, which emphasise the following pedagogical solutions (Hung, 2006; Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2006; Resta & Leferrier, 2007): 1. students complete real-life exercises and solve challenging problems together with their peers (Lam, Cheng, & Choy, 2010); 2. teachers role is to coach and model the thinking processes; 3. various information sources are used in multiple ways; 4. scientific, question driven inquiry strategies are applied; 5. a concrete product/artefact may be produced as an output of the work; and 6. opportunities are given for reflection on experience. In the CASC framework, a local social problem forms the basis for the PBL process, where students learn about the knowledge that resolves around the problem and the contextual knowledge, as well as develop problem solving skills (Hung, 2006). During the CASC PBL process, students pursue solutions by asking questions, debating ideas, making, collecting and analysing data, proposing solutions, drawing conclusions, and communicating their findings to others.

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Design principles of the CASC Media Artefact

A crucial part of the CASC framework is the Media Artefact, which is supported by meaningful pedagogical practices described above. The core design principles of the CASC media artefact are the following: CASC Media Artefact Guideline 1: Versatile use of media. Most of the CASC initial intervention artefacts are video based. The term video in this study is defined to include all media with moving pictures and sound used for communication and learning. Videos have been used in classrooms since the early days of filmstrips to the current trend of digital video to support student learning in all branches of education (Fill & Ottevill, 2006; Mitra, Lewin-Jones, Barrett, & Williamson, 2010). According to Choi and Johnson (2007), video is an ideal solution for supporting learning of complex skills, because it can expose learners to problems, equipment and events that cannot be easily demonstrated and understood verbally. In addition, Fill and Ottewill (2006) have shown that video can be used to gain students attention, create anticipation among students, and increase memorised content among other potential outcomes. CASC Media Artefact Guideline 2: Local knowledge and wisdom. The grassroot level knowledge and expertise should be incorporated into the content of CASC media artefacts. William Easterly suggests that the working-level experts in aid agencies and NGOs are often very good resources to understand any social issues and have a lot of knowledge about the problems at local level (Esterley, 2006). These experts know the problem domains, but often they are not connected to the schools. So despite the fact that there is knowledge within the communities to effectively deal with social issues, this may not be the common knowledge in the community. CASC Media Artefact Guideline 3: Cultural sensitivity. According to Selinger (2009), ICT solutions in developing countries are often designed and implemented from a western perspective including technically deterministic linguistic codes, cultural assumptions, social images and Western/European notions. Although CASC uses ICTs to support transformative education, it stays culturally sensitive throughout. The framework ensures that there are no cultural gaps among those imparting knowledge via technology and those receiving it by using experts available within the community itself. As both sides share the same culture and language, the chances of misunderstandings are reduced and chances of establishing communication on shared worldviews are highly increased. CASC Media Artefact Guideline 4: Local language. Language is an essential key for effective communication and participant inclusion. Several ICT based solutions fail to make an impact because of unrealistic assumptions about cognitive abilities of the children to understand a non-native language. UNESCO (2012) study on languages states: Recognizing the primary importance that people place on their own language fosters the kind of true participation in development that achieves lasting results (p. 6). It is argued that children understand a problem more easily when the issue is discussed in their local language (UNESCO, 2012). CASC Media Artefact Guideline 5: Infrastructure sensitivity. ICT infrastructures in different schools within the same region can be very different, so one size fits all approach is not an option. Depending on the ICT infrastructure available at the

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schools, various combinations of ICT devices can be used to connect the experts to the school students. However, not all the schools lack infrastructure. Some schools may have projectors or even broadband Internet connections for students, which need to be carefully taken in consideration during the design process. CASC Media Artefact Guideline 6: Two-way communication. ICTs are a powerful tool of sharing knowledge and information, but it must be emphasised that all genuine communication is two-way communication, i.e. it facilitates questions and responses from its participants to experts. This is very important to keep the CASC artefact authentic and free of bias. Depending on the case of each individual school and the ICT infrastructure available, some form of ICT based communication synchronous or asynchronous should be used to provide for a two-way communication channel. Such communication channel may use any media in a language of communication that is easily understandable to both parties. Different channels varying from video based face to face communication channels to collaborative webs for posting questions in text to SMS or mobile calls can be used to establish contact with social workers/experts at a specific time. It must be noted that an intentional lack of a two-way communication may lead to a misuse of this model for purposes of indoctrination.

Table 1 gives a concrete example of how the CASC media artefact guidelines can be applied in practice.
Table 1: Examples of CASC media artefact guidelines
Guideline Versatile use of media Examples Video interviews of working-level expert interviews related to the social problem Use of animations to explain complex phenomena with clarity Use of actual images related to problems Clippings from local newspapers about the problem at hand. Images from the problem spreading and affected areas related to the theme from students local surroundings Traditional understanding of the problem and investigation of this understanding in light of scientific findings Use of local language makes the topic easily understandable to the child Adaptation of the material so that it is culturally sensitive towards the audience, for instance, use of local images and images depicting local surroundings so that the audience can identify themselves with the context; use of a symbol of Swastika may mean something positive in parts of India, while its use may not be culturally appropriate in Europe where it is related to Nazism. Other design issues related to the learning community, environment, local pedagogical practices and countrys educational context (Tedre, Apiola, & Cronje, 2011) If the school does not have proper ICT infrastructure, the team working on such project should be prepared to physically transport the required hardware Providing a technology based channel (with or without teachers) to facilitate questioning among children, teachers and experts

Local knowledge and wisdom

Local language Cultural sensitivity

Infrastructure sensitivity Two-way communication

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CASC implementation principles: Combining pedagogy and media in a meaningful way

The CASC implementation is based on two main phases: preparation phase and the intervention.

1. Preparation Phase
The preparation phase usually consists of the following interrelated tasks that can also be performed simultaneously: Task 1: Exploring the educational traditions and ICT infrastructure in the target schools. Most schools in developing countries follow textbook-based and teacher-centric teaching traditions. One of the aims of using the CASC framework is to introduce a different way of learning in the selected schools. The design team should survey beforehand if the students are already familiar with PBL. During the visits to the schools, most commonly used teaching-learning methodologies should be observed. At least one teacher should be nominated by the head of the school to participate in the intervention phase of the CASC implementation. These visits are also a chance to survey the ICT infrastructure available at the chosen schools. Task 2: Identification of experts and local knowledge. Since local experts have an important role in the implementation of the CASC framework, it is crucial to identify suitable experts who are willing to contribute and collaborate with the schools. Task 3: Meeting and conducting interviews with the local experts. After identifying the experts, the CASC team should arrange a preliminary meeting for introducing the purpose of the CASC intervention. In addition, appointments can be made with the officials in order to record interviews with them. Task 4: Creation of the CASC media artefact. The CASC Media artefact is designed by following the CASC design principles presented above.

2. Intervention Phase
The second phase in the CASC implementation is the intervention phase, which typically consists of the following activities. Activity 1: Logistics and introducing of the social problem. During this step, the students are introduced to the social problem by using the CASC media artefact. In the case of video recording, the content of the videos could be shown to the students. The minimum setting for this purpose is a room with electricity, computer, audio speaker for sound reproduction and projector for visual display. If the target schools have access to a multimedia room (a room with electricity, computer, speakers for audio and projector for visual display) along with the Internet and bandwidth to watch a video online, then such a video can be uploaded onto free video channels, such as YouTube. If the school has basic ICT infrastructure, for instance, a multimedia room but no Internet or Internet with slow/low bandwidth then a digital storage device such as DVD or pen/flash drive can be used to send them. If there is no ICT infrastructure available in the school, the CASC team should take the responsibility of arranging the required equipment. Activity 2: Discussion. The aim of the discussion activity is to foster a deeper understanding of the problem, collaboration and creativity. Students should think to enhance their ability to analyse the problem and synthesise some solution. For the discussion,

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students should be divided into groups. The students should be suggested to self-organise themselves into groups based on gender and class level balance, to allow learning and participation in the PBL activities. Generally, the group size should be about 6 students and about 30 minutes should be given to the students to discuss the issue in their groups and to come up with one project which they would want to do to solve the problem at hand. Through discussions with their team members, students can identify projects to be completed by their groups. Activity 3: Project execution. In the project execution activity, students learn to reflect on the problem more deeply by doing something to solve the problem. This activity gives students a chance to reflect, act, work together with their group members as a team, investigate further, make decisions and take necessary action. After students have identified project based learning activities, they should be given one week for working on their group projects. They should complete their projects along with their regular classes. The teachers play the role of the facilitator, but they should be aware of the students choices of projects. The teachers should give instructions or guidance to the students if the latter ask for help; however, the teachers should not do any task for the students. In addition, the students should have some access to the social experts via ICT channels so that they can ask their questions. These synchronous/asynchronous communication channels can be created and/or maintained by organisers/researchers. Activity 4: Project presentation. For the final stage of the PBL process, the students should be asked to make presentations. Such an exercise will need students to articulate about the problem context, summarise their understanding of the problem as well as the potential solutions from experts and their own understanding about the problem. The students should work in the same teams to create and deliver their presentations.

Research design
We conducted the first experiment in real-life settings in Morogoro region along the slopes of Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania. We identified two villages and four secondary schools for an experiment where CASC intervention was tested in practice. We used video CASC media artefact to connect the expertise of local environmental officers to Tanzanias Secondary School students who absorbed the expert information, worked in teams to discuss the local social problem related to forest fires and carried out projects in order to find a solution to the identified social problem (Kihoza, 2011). In the study, Morogoro and Kingo secondary schools comprising 97 participants were used as a control group, while Kayenzi and Kauzeni secondary schools constituting 79 participants were used as an experimental group. The experimental group followed the CASC implementation, while the control group followed the traditional teaching approach. In the experimental group, three videos based on the CASC media artefact design principles were shown to the students. Video 1: Edited version of interviews with local forest officials. Video 2: Raging forest fire in California. Video 3: Project based learning explained. After the videos were watched, the students participated in group discussions in order deepen their understanding of the social problem. The students were suggested

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to self-organise themselves into groups of 911 students based on gender and class level balance. Time of about 30 minutes was given to the groups to discuss the issue, and to come up with a concrete project which they would want to do to solve the problem at hand, for instance, problems caused by forest fires. After the groups had identified the topic for their project, they were given one week to work with their projects (Kihoza, 2011). The groups had to complete the projects along with their regular classes. The groups produced a theoretical document and showed in practice that the knowledge of environmental conservation has been well understood. In the final stages of their work, the students were asked to make presentations of their projects. The aim was to articulate about the problem context, summarise their understanding of the problem and discuss the potential solutions. Various qualitative as well as quantitative techniques such as teachers interviews, observations, students self-assessment, pre-test and post-test of both experimental and control groups were used to collect data. Comparison of pre-tests with post-tests of experimental schools as well as comparative analysis of pre-tests and post-tests between experimental and control groups were used to analyse the data. We wanted to know if students had learnt about the problem from the experts understanding in addition to what they previously knew about the issue; if the students were able to connect to the real problem and if the intervention helped the students to find more about their personal strengths and prompted them to use these strengths in order to solve the issue at hand.

R e s u lt s
We noticed that the project itself focused into four main aspects in order to solve the problem of forest fires: prevention, avoidance, detection of most affected areas and recovery by planting trees (Kihoza, Roy, Suhonen, Tukiainen, & Vesisenaho, 2012). The students identified education though community visits, discussion with relevant groups of people and direct participation as concrete methods to solve the forest fire problem on local level. The research results showed that the participants ranked the CASC media artefact to be an effective solution for environmental education (Kihoza, 2011). We measured the effectiveness of knowledge from the quantitative data in the post-tests conducted with the experimental group. The effects of the intervention video to the experimental group when compared to the control group indicate that the use of video can provide benefits in three main ways: (1) integrate creativity and supporting explanatory capabilities to students understanding; (2) offer good understanding and different knowledge for different viewers and (3) allow participants opportunity for discussion. When comparing the opinions of the control group with the experimental group, we noticed that the students in the experimental group expressed more diverse ways of solving the forest fire problem than the control group. The majority of students in the control group mentioned community education as their prime activity of interests, while the students in the experimental group had several preferences. Thus, the project work carried out during the study empowered students to learn about the causes of forest fires and, more importantly, of how to tackle the problem in the future. Finally,

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we also analysed the quality of learning by evaluating the students self-assessments which were mainly positive and supportive towards the CASC solution. The teacher in the first school observed that, through using video and project-based-learning, forestry topic was well understood within a short time span as compared to the time generally used in the classroom, and that the school had gained success by seeing students voluntarily planting trees with no teacher instructions. The teacher from the second school mentioned that the students had been missing a big part of education when they learned without study tours and project based activities and that their school now planned to integrate forest tours. The teachers wished that they could have had more projects like CASC so that they could learn to face more challenges for improving environmental conservation efforts (Kihoza et al., 2012).

Di s c u ss i o n
CASC aims to promote expert knowledge about an authentic local problem in local settings of the students. As the experts are working level stakeholders in the problem domains, they know the domain and are generally happy to assist such work. We did not pay any money to the forest officials in Tanzania to be a part of our project. It was a win-win situation. Once these experts have invested time in giving interviews, the same media artefact can be used at several schools and the expert knowledge gets transported and transferred to community at large. CASC cashed on the strengths existing within a community and there were no gaps of worldviews or cultural imperialism as the experts spoke in local language and about a local issue. CASC does not promote technology for the sake of technology and hence it is not technologically or culturally deterministic. For a balanced society, the liberal and transformative functions should be in balance with the socialisation and the vocational functions. However, as discussed above in the paper, such balance is hard to achieve in developing countries because of a shortage of teachers and lack of expertise among teachers. We posit that it is not lack of text based knowledge that prevents people from acting in the right way to solve the problems existing in their society; rather, it is lack of critical thinking and hands-on practice in skills to solve these problems that causes lack in faith in ones ability to make a difference. Models like CASC give students a chance to learn about the problem, think critically about it and do something to change it. This strategy to empower students may assist them towards liberation. Shortage of teachers and lack expertise among teachers are some of the biggest obstacles in providing quality learning about social problems. Agencies like UNESCO or any NGOs can use CASC to promote local expert knowledge and understanding to cover for teachers expertise gap in problem domains in a locally sensitive way among the next generation. We began with the assumption that technology could replace teachers adequately; however, in the process, we have ended up realising that, though technology was a useful tool in spreading the detailed thinking of the experts, which covers up for lack of such expertise among teachers, teachers play a very important role in supporting students learning even in CASC framework.

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Co n c lu s i o n a n d i m pl i c at i o n s
Enculturation is the process through which a currently established culture teaches an individual the accepted norms and values of the culture or society where the individual lives. Societies may live in social problem creating and/or maintaining patterns for generations, when these problem patterns are not well understood. Through enculturation, prevailing habits and attitudes of society are replicated by its youth. Such replication creates an environment that allows a social problem to survive and grow. Healthy development of a society is an aim for which any society agrees to comply with its own structures like government offices and their rules. These institutions must emphasise provision of adequately education to their young about solving the problems existing within a society. Schools are important social and cultural institutions and can play an important role in bring new awareness into a society, at least among its youth. We posit that if children are given quality education about a social issue, this may stop the vicious circle which continues generation after generation. Also, young brains of schoolchildren can more readily open to question a societys prevailing attitude about a social problem as compared to adults. A sustainable world needs sustainable thinking. It is not infrequent that attempts to solve social problems through education are made by different agencies, for instance, through aid and/or programmes such as UNESCO Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. Though well-intentioned, such programmes may also have inherent thinking conflicts, for instance, development from the western point of view may not always be sustainable. Quite often, such educational programmes are rooted in underlying mistaken unsustainable and un-wholistic economic paradigms. Such foundations compromise scientific rigour and cultural understanding while keeping the false assumptions of unlimited growth intact. It is but obvious that such root-level conflicts would promote less effective, inauthentic and unrealistic learning among students and would effectively not solve much. Models like CASC draw on authentic social issues to help the child relate to the actual local setting and use the childs local language and local world view to promote better understanding about the problem. Local people knowingly or unknowingly happen to play a role in maintaining local problems, and this can be changed at local levels only. Using ICTs brings efficiency to most processes and yet ICTs are not a miracle cure for educational problems. One-size-fits-all approach works out for many ICT products. Many educational aid based projects invite ICT experts from very different social, cultural and national backgrounds to a host country to contribute towards solving local problems. These experts may be experts in technical domains. However, ironically, many times such experts do not have a good understanding the local culture and/or the local worldviews. As a result, many of the ICT driven projects when seen from a point of relevance in local contexts may be based on unrealistic world view assumptions, cultural insensitivity and cultural imperialism. Such ICT driven projects stir doubts among many decision makers who have their fears and insecurities about costly ICT based projects, especially as returns on investment are unsure. We argue that ICTs can contribute towards locally contextualised, child-centric learning and there is a dire need to use technology in these ways. However, using ICT in a ruthless, centralised and efficiency-focused fashion may

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not be the suitable way to promote understanding about social issues among school students. Combining ICTs with well understood pedagogical practices, along with having sensitive and dedicated teachers, can help an education system steer in the right direction. Though CASC is supported by the ICTs, the costs for using CASC approach are not high. It may not be essential to buy new electronic gadgets because cameras and projectors can be used on a sharable basis between organisations or be arranged on a rental basis. The aim of CASC is not to promote technology-for-the-sake-of-technology, which is an opportunistic agenda being pushed by the market forces, but to use technology in meaningful ways to intervene in the learning process. CASC framework is largely open to considering any kind of social issue. Assisted by supporting technology, CASC pedagogy can make students more responsible in their behaviour towards social problems in their own community and aim for a better quality of life with in a community. CASC is built on a knowledge base provided by local, impartial, working-level problem experts, needs local understanding in preparing CASC based intervention (in this way it is respectful to the local culture), uses local language as the medium of communication and keeps the whole process of learning about the social problem very real, grounded and close to the childs real world. CASC is build on top of learning which is a broader principle than formal education, which unfortunately is becoming more and more test oriented, and leaves little room for creative problem solving by students. The qualitative and quantitative results from the first CASC exploratory study in Tanzania show that CASC pedagogical approach promoted a better understanding about the environmental issues and enabled the students to come up with creative solution to real life problems. As a framework, CASC may evolve as we conduct more experiments. However, most probably, the basic structure will remain along similar lines. We do not endorse the use of ICT to replace human teachers because an important function of school is the enculturation of the young. The CASC methodology is culturally inclusive and keeps the ideas very child centric. It gives a chance for students to make a small positive difference into a social problem by doing something about it, which is a potent seed for the young fertile minds. Better understanding and an initiative for changing the local problematic circumstances may help students become responsible local citizens which in turn helps us have responsible global citizens who can think clearly about the problem issues and believe in taking initiative to reverse the problematic patterns in their surroundings. Since understanding the local culture is an integral aspect of this approach, we believe that incorporating ethnography can be very useful in the process of creating CASC media artefacts. Finally, mass media plays an important role in todays globalised world. Media educates the masses without using the literal symbols, which have so far been considered the standards of literacy. People learn new behaviours and values from the media without deeply understanding the media messages. We are also investigating the role of media in creating and maintaining social problems. This investigation may result in some changes to the CASC model to incorporate a component of media literacy.

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R e f e r e n c e s:
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