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Software to teach Hinduism
I am a Masters student at the Institute for the Learning Sciences (ILS) at
Northwestern University in Evanston, Ilinois. I am currently working on a
project to create instructional software to teach the concepts of Hinduism
and I would like some help. The software is a activity-based "game"
targeted at kids in grades 7-10. In the process of playing this adventure
game, the user would learn concepts of Hinduism. The software will be one
hour long in length, so I know I can not teach everything there is to know
about Hinduism. (This probably can't even be done in one lifetime.) I just
want to be able to teach enough to give the average American an idea of
what the Hindu religion is and what it means to be a Hindu. At the very
least, if the software can extinguish some of the stereotypes and negative
attitudes towards the word Hindu, the software will be successful.
There are two places at which I could use some help. First, I myself am a
Hindu, but I am by no means an expert on the subject. I have an idea of
what I want to teach, but I would like to engage in a conversation with any
experts on what the most important concepts need to be taught are. Is it
is the philosophy of pluralism and openness, or is it knowledge of the
scriptures, and so on. If there is anyone one with any thoughts, I would
appreciate the comments.
Second, an integral part of my software is having expert stories come up at
appropriate times to help explain concepts. So, I would like to interview
people to get stories which would help explain Hindu concepts. If any
experts are in the Chicago area and have the time (1 - 2 hours) to be
videotaped, I would appreciate you contacting me. I should explain what I
mean by experts. Experts can be professors in the field of Hinduism or
anyone who has a deep, academic knowledge of Hinduism. A couple of the
people I have already made contact with are Prof. George Bond of
Northwestern and Prof. Sheldon Pollack of Univ. of Chicago.
I would also appreciate it if anyone can give me any ideas on other places
to find the information I need or any names of people I can contact. I
think it is important for kids with no exposure to Hinduism to learn
something about this religion. I think the software I am building can
achieve this goal. My end goal, of course, is to have this software out in
high schools or museums actually being used. So any help or support is
greatly appreciated.
You can either follow up to this posting, e-mail me at desai@ils.nwu.edu,
or call me at 708-491-8933. Thanks.
__________________________________________________________________________
"I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific."
Samir Desai
The Institute for the Learning Sciences
Northwestern University
desai@ils.nwu.edu
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