The Radio Language Arts Project, a five-year research and development effort funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development in cooperation with the Kenya government to systematically assess the costs and benefits of intensive use of radio as the principal vehicle for primary level English instruction in rural areas of Kenya, is described…

Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) is a powerful, innovative methodology for teaching that provides an instructional template for the improvement of primary education in developing nations. Due to the low cost of radio technology and the prevalence of its use in economically deprived areas, IRI has proved successful in addressing four issues in…

The majority of developing countries are experiencing increasing pressure on already taxed education resources. Contributing factors include spiralling population growth, government policies to achieve universal primary education, attempts to reduce high teacher-pupil ratios, and the shortage of professionally trained and/or academically qualified…

Describes three projects funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development that used new methodologies for educational radio with elementary students: (1) the Radio Mathematics Project of Nicaragua; (2) the Radio Language Arts Project of Kenya; and (3) the Radio Science Project of Papua New Guinea. (LRW)

The methodology developed for use in a U.S.-sponsored radio-based English language arts program for grades 1-3 in Kenya, adapted to the special circumstances of the medium, the context, and the program's administrative limitations, is a highly interactive radio lesson whose most important organizational characteristics are adherence to…

Research on the role of educational radio in the classroom sponsored by the Agency for International Development over a ten-year period in Nicaragua, Kenya, and the Dominican Republic is reviewed. An introductory section outlines the reasons for using radio for instructional purposes: (1) it is widespread and democratic; (2) serious radio use is…

Interactive radio instruction has gained attention as a low-cost means of improving the academic achievement of primary school students. The Radio Mathematics Project in Nicaragua and subsequent programs developed by the Learning Technologies for Basic Education (LearnTech) Project illustrate the evolution such programs have undergone as…

This document contains seven papers from a study of the role of distance learning approaches in enhancing the contribution of nonformal education to socioeconomic development in Africa. "Introduction" (Richard Siaciwena) presents an overview of the research project and defines key terms related to nonformal education. "Ghana: The…