GraphoGame™ Pinyin for learning to read in Chinese

Posted on by

Researchers aim to validate GraphoGame™ Pinyin version for children in China during year 2014.

– Researchers from Beijing Normal University have done great work on the Pinyin version of GraphoGame™. We are proud to announce that the preliminary results are very positive, says Professor Heikki Lyytinen, from University of Jyväskylä, Finland.

The common goal is to develop Pinyin and Character versions of GraphoGame™ for children to learn to read in Chinese. These language versions are developed in collaboration with Beijing Normal University and University of Jyväskylä as part of the Grapho Learning Initiative.

Currently the GraphoGame™ provides an optimized instruction for learning the skill of reading Pinyin symbols.

GraphoGame research group is currently visiting Beijing, China as part of an academic delegation, led by Minister of Education and Culture of Finland, Ms Krista Kiuru.

Scientific Results from the Chilean GraphoGame™ Version

Posted on by

GraphoGame™ is a child-friendly computer game that helps children to learn the basic letters and their sounds. This skill is vital for learning to read. Our aim is to provide GraphoGame™ for children in Chile during the year 2014.

The University of Jyväskylä has a joint research project  “Predicting and supporting reading acquisition via computer games for children at risk for dyslexia” with the Chilean colleagues from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Centro de Desarrollo de Tecnologías de Inclusión (CeDeTI) with the lead of Professor Ricardo Rosas. The joint project that is ending this year is funded by the Academy of Finland and CONICYT.

– We are today pleased to announce preliminary results from the Chilean version of GraphoGame, says professor Heikki Lyytinen from University of Jyväskylä.

Professor Lyytinen is currently visiting Santiago de Chile on a ministerial delegation, led by Minister of Education and Culture of Finland, Ms Krista Kiuru.

The results show that children who played GraphoGame™ Chile improved significantly their basic skills for reading in comparison to children who did not get to play the game. After six hours of playing their letter sound recognition skills were significantly better.

– These children are from public schools and have  a relatively low socioeconomical background. Their parents have maximum of 9 years of education and monthly salary is about  332-500 US dollars, says professor Ulla Richardson from the University of Jyväskylä.

The game was developed in Finland in the interdisciplinary Agora Human Technology Center of the University of Jyväskylä in collaboration with the Niilo Mäki Institute. It is based on the scientific follow-up study of Finnish children at familial risk for dyslexia from birth to reading age which professor Heikki Lyytinen started in the early 1990´s.

Research on the efficiency and validation of new language versions continues in several countries.

More info:

Professor Heikki Lyytinen
Dept.of Psychology & Agora Center
University of Jyväskylä
email: heikki.j.lyytinen at jyu.fi
phone: +358 50 5524892

Professor Ulla Richardson
University of Jyväskylä, Agora Center
email: ulla.a.richardson at jyu.fi
phone: +358 400 247398

https://agoracenter.jyu.fi/projects/chile

http://www.okm.fi/OPM/Tiedotteet/2013/10/Latinalaisen_Amerikan_matka.html?lang=fi

Website Update

Posted on by

Today we released the new website for GraphoGame.

We have given up the use of grapholearn.info and info.grapholearn.com domains and are concentrating on developing graphogame.com. We hope you find what you are looking for and like the new layout.

Special tip for researchers: to login to the “GraphoGame Server” you find a link at the top of each page.

Kalulu Story Writing Competition

Posted on by

Kalulu Story Writing Competition

Winners of the KALULU Story Writing Competition

You are cordially invited to the Award Ceremony of
the KALULU Story Writing Competition
at Kaunda Square Basic School, Lusaka
on Wednesday 19 October 2011 at 10 hrs.

Kalulu, the rabbit, is a celebrated trickster in African folk tales. Kalulu was also the name of a Story Writing Competition arranged by the GraphoREAD Project from Finland in cooperation with Zambian partners.

The Competition was designed to generate a collection of new exciting stories in Zambian languages for young children to read as they begin to acquire the founding elements of literacy. A selection of the best stories submitted to the competition will be published in mobile phones, in print and on the Internet.

More than 700 stories were submitted to the competition in Bemba, Kaonde, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja and Tonga. The writers of the selected best creative stories in all 7 languages and the 6 best poems will be awarded on Wednesday 19 October 2011, at the event held at Kaunda Square Basic School, Lusaka.

The programme includes dance and music performances by local artists. The event is specially designed for children and is hosted by Mr Gankhanani Moyo, a versatile artist and writer himself.

Mr Geoffrey Tambulukani, University of Zambia, will represent the distinguished panel of judges. The invited guests include the representatives from the Ministry of Education, University of Zambia, the Embassy of Finland, the GraphoREAD Project, Niilo Mäki Institute, Finland and several local non-governmental organisations.

The event will be video recorded. We also welcome local media representatives to attend the event.

Warmly welcome,

Prof Heikki Lyytinen
Project Leader, GraphoREAD
University of Jyväskylä
Finland
 

 

The GraphoREAD Project is part of The Grapho Learning Initiative, run by University of Jyväskylä and Niilo Mäki Institute from Finland. It is funded by Tekes – The Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation.

The KALULU Story Writing Competition is organised by GraphoREAD in cooperation with University of Zambia (UNZA), the Centre for the Promotion of Literacy in Sub-Saharan Africa (CAPOLSA), Ministry of Education, Republic of Zambia, Forum for African Women Educationalists of Zambia (FAWEZA) and National Arts Council of Zambia.

The competition is sponsored by Airtel Zambia.

Airtel

Our aim is to create a solid and sustainable ground for our work  to help millions of African children learn to read, learn and enjoy the wonders of literacy.  When children learn to read in their own, spoken language, it is easier for them to learn other languages as well. These are the essential steps toward developing literacy and self-expression through language.

 

GraphoWorld’s Summer School 2011

Posted on by

University of Jyväskylä

University of Jyväskylä
Agora Center and the Faculty of Social Sciences

GraphoWorld’s Summer School 2011:
Science-based support on literacy development

Location: Agora Center, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Time: September 7-14, 2011

The summer school on Science-based Support on Literacy Development approaches the theme from three perspectives: theory and methods in literacy research, current intervention research and current research in multilinguistic settings. Summer school ends in a three-day workshop on GraphoGame – a digital learning environment for acquisition of reading skills. The workshop is intended for researchers interested in developing a new language version of GraphoGame and/or for those who are using/will be using Graphogame in their research.

Invited speakers:

  • Mikko Aro (University of Jyväskylä, Finland)
  • Roderick Barron (University of Guelph, Canada)
  • Silvia Brem (University of Zürich, Switzerland)
  • Zvia Breznitz (University of Haifa, Israel)
  • Usha Goswami (University of Cambridge, UK)
  • Elena Grigorenko (Moscow State University & Russia & University of Yale, US)
  • Fumiko Hoeft (Stanford University, US)
  • Malt Joshi (Texas A&M University, US)
  • Fiona Kyle (University of Bedfordshire, UK)
  • Paavo Leppänen (University of Jyväskylä, Finland)
  • Maureen Lovett (The Hospital For Sick Children & University of Toronto, Canada)
  • Catherine McBride-Chang (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)
  • Ken Pugh (Haskins Laboratories/Yale, US)
  • Robert Serpell (University of Zambia, Zambia)
  • Haitham Taha (University of Haifa, Israel)
  • Minna Torppa (University of Jyväskylä, Finland)
  • Richard Wagner (The Florida State University, US)

Objective

This is an opportunity for young researchers to meet several leading senior researchers and discuss the participants’ research projects, to achieve hands on experience on using GraphoGame in their own research as well as providing a platform for sharing new research findings/ideas for the leading senior researchers on literacy development.

Program (draft updated September 1st)

Program for GraphoWORLD Summer School (pdf-file)