Coding from the Latin American ancestral indigenous knowledge

Abstract

Wawakipu is a computer science program developed by the MedialabUIO of the International Center for Advanced Studies of Communication for Latin America, which seeks to awaken computational thinking in children, mainly from peripheral neighborhoods, in the city of Quito - Ecuador, by using Of the narration of ancestral indigenous histories for the development of videojuegos with Scratch.

Both the research and the project arise from reflections on the experiences of previous discharges of computer science programs in Latin America such as the OLPC Project, the Waskaran Plan in Peru, Conectar Equality in Argentina, the Canaymita Project in Venezuela , Deployment of Quipus computers in Bolivia, Creative Technologies in Ecuador, which, between both state and private initiatives are observed in relation to the limited reflections on the local senses for technology teaching in relation to indigenous identity, for the greater Approach to their populations.

The project developed in the city of Quito during the months of January to May 2017 presents different results based on the hypothesis about whether local indigenous knowledge expressed in cosmogonic narratives that present cosmologies allow to generate greater meanings for the learning of programming focused on The development of cultural economies with their own identity and technological sovereignty.

The research focuses on methodological tests and compilation of pedigree genealogies with various actors, tests with more than 200 children between central groups, peripheral neighborhoods and related actors.