Here you can find information about Demotech publications and of publications of others that are interesting to our approach.

Schools adopt schools to provide NightReaders to all students

Peer to peer projects between students in rich and poor countries can arouse interest and stimulate the construction and use of the NightReader. Studying during the evening at home normal in developed countries and next to impossible in poor countries? No need to accept this, rich schools may take the initiative to change this. And to change this is within their reach, creating a NightReader peer to peer project.
For this a school and its students in a rich country adopt a school and its students in a poor country. Students in rich countries have enough experience on Internet to find and contact a school in a (poor) country of their liking. Then the students find out what is the real situation: is there a need for the NightReader? Does the other school has interest in such a project? If yes, what precise are the local conditions?
So the rich school students get to know what is the reality for their peers in that far away country. Together with their teachers they make a plan. It is impractical to make all the NightReaders and send them. Better is it to provide teaching materials for that other school.
Here the design group Demotech and its Workforce come in with stimulating support. They provide a little "Factory", a package with all what is needed to start construction. This package contains first of all a complete and functioning NightReader. With this testing of its usefulness can start. Are the students satisfied, or do they have ideas to do it different. For sure they will have such ideas and lively discussion will start. Not only at the rich school, students from both schools will want to know more, what is possible, what should be done. Dialogue is also fruitful on the forum on the Internet page of Demotech.
Now Demotech expects that the students will embrace the system of self-reliance and production means as is worked out in "The Factory". The Factory offers all the tools for making the NightReader. It offers also the parts, even some half made parts. This helps to understand how the actual work is done.
Next step is making a few NightReaders by the (rich) students, then the total "Factory" is copied. The work for this can be shared among students. Some organize translation of the manual and have them copied. Others make the actual NightReaders and the example parts. Again others organize the logistics to properly bundle the newly made teaching tool "Factories" and have them send to the poor country school.
So in the end the rich school has run a true development project: identifying needs, selecting a method of support and (if done well) made the partner self-reliant in the solving her problem. What more has been achieved? Rich and poor students have created friendly links by email, they understand each others conditions better, they have experienced how support can be given to solve other similar problems.
And what has been the cost of solving the problem of "No Night Time Light for Studying"? Very little. Very little for the "Factory" teaching tool that Demotech has provided. Little for the materials as needed to the new "Factories" made. Very little also for the many little LED-lights that are send to the poor school, two for each NightReader that is to be made there. Some more cost is involved in the sending of the parcel to this far away school.
And the time the rich school and their teachers invest in this project? Indeed, plenty time is needed to get everything discussed, explained, organized and done. But is this not fully compensated by the educational value of this project? Could it be that this project is to be embedded in the school's curriculum, that it fits the economic, the geographic, the social and the technical aspects that are taught at the school anyway? Demotech offers no final answer here. However we hope to develop "The Factory" in close cooperation with participating schools. We hope and expect that somehow a good "educational fit" will emerge over time.