BRAZIL | FEBRUARY 2012
Integrating technology everywhere leads to
every student learning
School:
Darcy Ribeiro Public School
Country:
Brazil
Year Level: Elementary and Middle School Levels
Innovation Framework Focus

Teaching, learning, and assessment

Learning environments

Student voice

Capacity building
Brief Description of Innovation
Integrating technology and promoting group actions that enable all
students to acquire a high-quality education.
For students

Give students instruments to help them develop personal and collective projects by focusing on learning specific skills.

Involve students in their own learning and citizenship-building processes.

Help students develop self-assessment and autonomy in decision-making, giving them conditions that meet their rights as
children and teenagers in society.
For the Board of Directors

Serve as part of democratic management, facilitate teamwork, and focus their involvement and commitment on making
decisions and executing the project.

Make the project feasible considering each one’s potential, material and financial resources, and available time.
For teachers and staff

Carry out continuous scientific training of all staff.

Develop staff autonomy in taking part in and developing school projects.

Foster personal and professional development.
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For parents and community

Involve parents and community in building knowledge of the school by participating in practical actions, project follow up,
informational meetings, debates, and workshops.
Background
Named after Darcy Ribeiro, a renowned Brazilian anthropologist, author, and politician who deeply influenced Latin American studies
and education, the school’s vision is to have an open, thinking, and flexible system that supports dialogue and intellectual curiosity,
increases the ability to use and re-create knowledge, and supports questioning, having innovative thoughts, and developing selflearning mechanisms.
Key Innovation and Areas of Focus
At Darcy Ribeiro, technology is seen as a resource to be used in all areas, with the school’s focus on “each and every student learning.”
The school develops projects that relate diverse knowledge areas to each other, and it also allows students to build their knowledge
through the interaction they have with their environment (people, space, time, and
“Seeing the students as part of a
globalized world requires rethinking
school methods. Then, if we want
instruments). The school strives to help students become interested and motivated in
searching for information as a way of building knowledge.
students to have a critical and creative
Shared Vision
way of thinking, with high self-esteem
The school provides students with the possibility of knowing, doing, learning, and being,
and capable of facing and being part
in an enriched, affective environment. The school broadens students’ experience, starting
of our current society, we must promote
changes, stay committed, and
innovate all the time!
Coordinator Divina Pacheco &
Principal Claudia Souza
with their previous knowledge and giving them opportunities to understand the world
where they live and learn about their social and cultural relationships. Using technology,
the school also endeavors to familiarize students with a globalized world, with the
teacher acting as a mediator in learning.
Before incorporating technology into classes, it was necessary to assess the students’
and teachers’ existing technical knowledge. The project started with training that
enabled teachers to build on their previous knowledge, so that they could
help students without needing others to help them.
Next, the school formed a partnership with Planeta Educação (Planet
Education), which was extremely important because it provided the school
with technology in the classroom and enabled the school to add a
secretary. Planet Education is the educational portal of Vitae Futurekids,
which aims to disseminate the educational and administrative use of new
information technologies and communication in Brazilian public schools.
The school has mediators who work with teachers and students to help
them integrate the technological resources with the contents of the
classes. The mediators also support the computer labs and maintain the
computers.
The school also takes advantage of technological resources in its English
classes. Planeta Educação also offered trainings to teachers interested in using technology to broaden their pedagogical practices. The
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resources used in the lab, in the English classes, and in the teacher trainings were based on the software solutions provided by
Microsoft.
Microsoft Technology
These are some of the projects and the technology used for each:
Nursery Rhyme
CD, DVD, cameras
Maurício de Souza and Mônica’s Gang
Microsoft Paint, Microsoft Word, Internet
Math in Check
Internet, games, digital board
Games
Internet, Games, Microsoft Word
My memories, My poems
Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint , digital board
School Connected
Microsoft Word, Internet, e-mail, blog, video
Trainings, Parents Meeting, Events
Windows Live Movie Maker, Microsoft PowerPoint , e-mail
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Outcomes
All school members incorporated technology into their work. Student
accomplishments were assessed using multiple criteria. It’s interesting
to note that the students reported feeling more engaged in building
knowledge when the technological resources were used. With training,
teachers used the technical equipment in more natural ways,
incorporating it into their class plans.
Because students were “living their learning,” their experiences changed.
Although their individual discoveries were different from those of their
friends, the meaning behind the learning was practically the same.
Students discovered that “Learning is not necessarily boring, and that
each is capable of learning. It’s a matter of self-esteem,” noted teacher
Denise Cristina Kalleder.
Future Plans
The school will seek new partnerships and strengthen existing ones, such as with Planeta Educação and Ayrton Senna Institute. For 2012
the plan is to continue investing in teacher training, strengthen democratic management, focusing on a quality education for all. These
are the 2012 objectives:

Teachers – Change pedagogical practices inside the classroom, working with learning projects; use proper digital technology;
participate in virtual learning community.

Board of Directors – Reorganize the school’s time and space, direct and stimulate the learning project development, participate
in the virtual learning community.
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
Students – Show good writing and reading skills; demonstrate knowledge of how to collect, interpret, and analyze data; know
how to access accumulated information; demonstrate critical thinking about the media; develop proactive behaviors; share ideas
and solutions; broaden knowledge; show improvement academically; increase participation within the school and in the
community.
Comments from Teachers
“As a teacher, I use the computer as a resource to work with students who have learning disabilities. Digital inclusion helps these
students in organizing their daily routines, maximizing their time, developing other types of activities, and improving their abilities. The
technological resources enable these students to develop important abilities, such as concentration, assimilation, and so on.
Teacher Denise Cristina Kalleder
“The use of technology in education is increasingly present in the daily basic routine of the teacher-student relationship.
The TICs – Communication and Technologies of Education – carry out a key role in helping students develop the skills to act in today’s
world and cooperate in facing the current challenges, creating learning environments. In order for technologies to succeed, a special
view is needed, a desire to provide students with new and interesting ways to learn, more than just showing them a borderless world of
knowledge. The technology should be more allied with building knowledge in order to reach positive results and trigger
transformation.” Teacher Marlene Santos
“Working with technology in the school looks like rocket science to a lot of educators. However, the ones who yet haven’t adapted to
this new approach should think about getting started with it. Technology is present in our daily basic routine and is ever increasing. It
is nearly impossible to live without it, and consequently, it is impossible for the school to shut its eyes to technology.
Technology can help a lot in the learning process of students and it can be a big help to handicapped people’s learning processes. The
lessons turn out to be more exciting and the students identify themselves with them. It is important to point out that the teacher
should be prepared to use the technology inside the classroom, in order to direct students to accomplish really constructive jobs and
activities. Teach students how to research, select data, and write opinions is just one of many possibilities. Show that the Internet,
television, radio, etc., are used for more than to access social networks or programs with low level of information. With my classes, I
use technology to enrich the lessons and make students healthy users. It is impressive how this generates results. Many students have
become more interested in reading, increased their writing skills, and discovered a new world with a lot more possibilities.”
Teacher Alexandra Rivera
Comments from Students
"The technology is very important because it gives us opportunities through the Internet to meet new people, organize our things such
as files, and improve our knowledge." Student Igor Alves, Year 8 A
"The technology in the classroom makes everything more interesting. It helps in developing our vision, to see things globalized.
Student Eduarda da Silva Soares, Year 7 C
"With the use of technology, the disciplines are developed in a different way and the lessons become more enjoyable. This practice
helped me a lot, mainly regarding communication and the study through research.” Student João Vitor Ribeiro da Silva, Year 7 A
References
Darcy Ribeiro website: http:/blogs.educataboao.com.br/darcyribeiro
www.educataboao.com.br
www.planetaeducacao.com.br
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