Wired article

[PollyOR]

How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses (Wired Magazine)

 

What do you think?

 

edited to add - This article mentions Finland's success which I know some of you are interested in.

[Arcadia]

I agree with this part of the article

 

"To them, knowledge isn’t a commodity that’s delivered from teacher to student but something that emerges from the students’ own curiosity-fueled exploration. Teachers provide prompts, not answers, and then they step aside so students can teach themselves and one another"

[PollyOR]

A couple more links:

 

"The School in the Cloud" trailer.

 

TED: Sugata Mitra

 

Quote from the article: "Gray points out that young children, ... edited to remove copyrighted material.

[Corraleno]

What an inspiring article! I am a huge Sugata Mitra fan, and was so happy to see he got $1 million from TED to continue his work.

 

I loved this quote:

 

 

 

Nicholas Negroponte, cofounder of the MIT Media Lab, is taking this approach even further with his One Laptop per Child initiative. Last year the organization delivered 40 tablets to children in two remote villages in Ethiopia. Negroponte’s team didn’t explain how the devices work or even open the boxes. Nonetheless, the children soon learned to play back the alphabet song and taught themselves to write letters. They also figured out how to use the tablet’s camera. This was impressive because the organization had disabled camera usage. “They hacked Android,†Negroponte says.

 

  :lol:

 

Jackie

[PollyOR]

What is amazing about the teacher in Mexico is that he did it without technology in the classroom.

 

I'm enjoying watching the  Sugata Mitra TED talks.   :thumbup1:

[PhotoGal]

I wonder if they set a computer up with no instructions, but it had video games in addition to information about molecular biology - would the kids know anything about molecular biology in the end? I wonder how much independent learning is affected by what other options/distractions are available. :)

 

This is a really interesting story. I love how the teacher set up challenge problems for kids to solve. I keep meaning to add that into our homeschool day. (Beast Academy was pretty close to this, though).

 

I'd love to know what made the kids' Spanish scores go up. Was it just because of the discussions they were having? Did this teacher use other techniques as well? Interesting.

 

I am definitely going to remember the story of the burro!

[PollyOR]

I wonder if they set a computer up with no instructions, but it had video games in addition to information about molecular biology - would the kids know anything about molecular biology in the end? I wonder how much independent learning is affected by what other options/distractions are available. :)

 

 

I was reading the article while my 11yo was playing a computer game in another room.  I was wondering the same thing. ;)

[....]

I wonder if they set a computer up with no instructions, but it had video games in addition to information about molecular biology - would the kids know anything about molecular biology in the end? I wonder how much independent learning is affected by what other options/distractions are available. :)

 

 

If it were something that seemed interesting to them, they probably would pick the biology over a game.  We have tons of video games here and my 11 yro turns down playing those to research botany.  She spends several hours a day reading about the subject, making colored pencil sketches of different flowers/plants and designing experiments or landscaping ideas for our back yard.  I have plastic milk jugs with all kinds of different plants growing out of them all over the back patio.  It's a hobby for her and something that she is just really interested in right now.  So, I think kids do turn down mindless distractions for something they find interesting.  Maybe it's not plants...maybe they're interested in animals or bridges or building stuff...    

 

Those video games are only interesting for so long.  They're shallow and my kids get bored with them - even my video game-loving son gets bored with them.

[....]

I was reading the article while my 11yo was playing a computer game in another room.  I was wondering the same thing. ;)

 

LOL!   :tongue_smilie:

[8filltheheart]

This quote made me smile bc it affirms my personal beliefs. :)

 

In 2009, scientists from the University of Louisville and MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences conducted a study of 48 children between the ages of 3 and 6. The kids were presented with a toy that could squeak, play notes, and reflect images, among other things. For one set of children, a researcher demonstrated a single attribute and then let them play with the toy. Another set of students was given no information about the toy. This group played longer and discovered an average of six attributes of the toy; the group that was told what to do discovered only about four. A similar study at UC Berkeley demonstrated that kids given no instruction were much more likely to come up with novel solutions to a problem. “The science is brand-new, but it’s not as if people didn’t have this intuition before,†says coauthor Alison Gopnik, a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley.

I don't know how "new" the science is, but this is definitely the type of conversation I had with mentor back in college.....that undirected exploration has superior cognitive outcomes.

 

I loved the burro analogy. But, the lack of recognition for the teacher makes no sense at all. My goodness, what a blessing he has been in the lives of those kids!

 

I was also nodding my head with this quote:

“THE BOTTOM LINE IS, IF YOU’RE NOT THE ONE CONTROLLING YOUR LEARNING, YOU’RE NOT GOING TO LEARN AS WELL.â€

 

I have had nothing but intuition for this perspective, but it has been one that has been the backbone of our homeschool and has had successful outcomes for my kids. Cause/effect?? I have no clue.

[shawthorne44]

Reminds me a great deal of John Holt. 

[JumpyTheFrog]

I think the article glossed over an important point. Weren't the kids in 5th or 6th grade? They already knew basic math and reading. This Sudbury school type setup might not be as successful with younger kids who have no interest in learning to read, write, or add. Also, as others pointed out, they didn't have Facebook and video games distracting them.

 

I thought it was sad that the article mentioned teamwork as one of the three most important skills sought by employers. I noticed that reading, writing, and math didn't make the list. What good is teamwork if none of the adults on the team are literate, in an environment that assumes literacy?

[4KookieKids]

I think the article glossed over an important point. Weren't the kids in 5th or 6th grade? They already knew basic math and reading. This Sudbury school type setup might not be as successful with younger kids who have no interest in learning to read, write, or add. Also, as others pointed out, they didn't have Facebook and video games distracting them.

 

So I am wondering if how these self-discovery methods of learning would work with younger kids, if anyone does have experience? Not nec. experience like "I gave my 5 year old a computer and told them to do whatever they wanted", but how would something like this look in earlier grades?

 

In particular, I think my kids would just play legos if they had the option, or dress up, or who knows what else. And I'm not against that sort of thing, but I'm wondering if there still needs to be "work time" to implement something like this?