Kusasa

The Kusasa project aimed to create, and implement, a suite of curriculum aligned projects for grades 4-12. Each project was designed to develop and provide role models for effective thinking. Kusasa projects were designed to:

• Be self taught, peer mentored, and
• provide user feedback provide; analytical thinking skills that are useful across a range of disciplines;
• encourage and facilitate the effective modeling of concrete observations in software;
• be an exercise machine for analysis, process and synthesis.

The incidental outcome of each project would have been the acquisition of a range of mathematical and scientific thinking skills and concepts, which learners would have practiced regardless of the actual content of their projects. The core idea behind Kusasa was that learners would graduate from a Kusasa project with new thinking skills, new mathematical and science skills, and new content knowledge that they would have absorbed through experiential play and modeling.

However, practical considerations in implementing the objectives of the project led the Foundation to conclude that Kusasa faced problems with the execution of its vision. The decision to cancel the project was based on the difficulties in reconciling the original vision with the compromises needed to make Kusasa work under challenging circumstances. It was therefore decided to cancel the project, but the resources it generated will not go to waste. All of the content is openly licensed and available at www.kusasa.org.

The Foundation remains more committed than ever to driving initiatives that improve education in Africa through the use of technology and open licensing. Sadly Kusasa was not sustainable and we now shift our energy and focus to ensuring the success of the other projects underway.