From: David Scott
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Date: 14 Oct 1996
Time: 19:31:50
The exact number of children that each of the educators wants to deal with should be up to that educator and the activity the group is engaging in. For example, "Monopoly" plays well up to four people. Someone giving lessons on how to use a word processor might be able to easily handle six children. But when I suggested the 2:1 ratio, I was thinking about how many students I think I could comfortably handle at a single computer playing some game (the most common activity at BU). Also, having 30 people in that little computer room was probably a violation of fire codes.
Eugene wrote: "I did not get how this [Dave's organizational proposal] helps to reduce the kids-eductors ratio."
It doesn't, and I never intended that interpretation. What I believe it will do is help the students better understand what their options are for how they spend their time at BU, and the educators to feel less frustrated and overworked. It could affect the ratio by evenly distributing the children among the educators and the computers and other resources among the children.