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Introduction
"Step by Step" is the pilot project of the Foundation. It has three fundamental goals: teaching English, teaching the use of Information Technology, and improving instructional techniques for teachers.
Technology Projects
1. Information Technology Classes from Pre-school through 11th Grade
With the invaluable assistance of INSA (The Institute of Our Lady of the Assumption) a remarkable school for the poorest children of Cali, and the website of the Gabriel Piedrahita Uribe Foundation, Eduteka, which specializes in education technology, the Foundation has been able to develop an innovative curriculum for pre-school through 11th grade. This curriculum emphasizes English, the use of the computer for everyday tasks, and the use of the internet both for research and for exploration far beyond the geographic and psychogical barriers of the students' lives.
2. Information Technology Classes for Teachers
Because of the lack of teacher training in Information Technology, both at the Primary and the Secondary levels, the Foundation has been teaching the teachers how to use the computer since 2005.
Teachers now use the computer routinely for email, recording grades and reports, and meeting among themselves. Day by day, the Foundation seeks to train the teachers in the use of educational software so that they can enrich their teaching methods in the classroom.
3. Upgrading the Information Technology Room
In the beginning, the Step by Step project at the Marina Orth School had only a small room with 6 computers, only four of which worked by dial up. The internet was rarely accessible.
By the end of 2006, thanks to the teacher training institute, directed by Dr. Maria del Pilar Rubio, the link between the Secretary of Education and the Foundation, the school received 5 more computers. In May, 2007, the foundation received 10 additional computers as a gift from Mr. Felipe Medina through the Foundation, Give to Colombia of Miami. In December, Dr. Craig Barrett, chairman of Intel, donated 15 more computers and made a promise to provide a wireless connection to each classroom.
The foundation is extremely grateful to our generous donors and to Congressman Sam Farr (D. CA), who made the school’s needs known to the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.
In October of 2008, the One Laptop Per Child program was launched. This project provides a personal laptop to each student from preschool through fifth grade. See our wikipedia page to learn more about how we are using these laptops to improve the education at Marina Orth School. www.fundacionmarinaorth.org/wiki
4. Technology Tools (TICs) with English, Spanish and Mathematics
We are currently using the computers to teach English, Spanish and Mathematics.
We want both teachers and students to improve their research abilities and to develop critical thinking and leadership skills. The students learn from one another to follow a plan from its inception to its completion.
For example, in Spanish class the children use the internet to research the life of a famous person in history. They then dress up as the historical figure and describe him to the rest of the class. Some of the characters the students have chosen are Johann Sebastian Bach, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isadora Duncan. | 
