Something to Get You Thinking

After watching a TED talk video led by Sugata Mitra about child driven education, the video really got me thinking about children’s eagerness and ability to learn and the role of educators.  In this video, Mitra talks about his “Hole in the Wall” experiments which he began in New Delhi in 1999, where he carved a hole in a wall and placed a computer there, which was accessible for those in the slum. Mitra has conducted this experiment in other parts of the world such as South Africa and Italy, and believes that children can teach themselves and others if they are motivated by curiosity and peer interest.  Sugata Mitra has furthered his findings by conducting other experiments such as the Gateshead experiments in 2009. In these types of experiments, Mitra asked students to arrange themselves into groups of four students and among each group, the students would have access to one (just one!) computer that they were to use for answering questions. The students worked together, discussed their ideas, and were always able to find the answers to the questions. In other experiments conducted like this, children who spoke languages that were different from the language of the question were still able to answer the questions. So incredible! These experiments really amazed me in what children are able to do on their own and how they can teach themselves. I know that I’ve been guilty of this, but sometimes I forget how eager children are to learn; that they like to learn.  I’m really glad that Mitra’s discussion brought this up because I think it’s something that educators overlook at times. Mitra created an environment and motivation in which the childrren wanted to teach themselves- he had the students learn about something that they were unaware of while using technology and he had them work with their peers. This environment proved to be very successful for the children. Are we motivating our students in these ways? How can we?  Are we providing them with an environment where their desire for learning is able to grow?
It’s really incredible how children want to learn and it’s important that educators encourage that eagerness! Mitra used technology as a tool for the students and I think there are many ways in which technology could encourage students with their learning.  Technology not only allowed the children to learn, teach themselves, and find the right answers, but it also allowed for discussion among the classmates, allowing them to work as a team.
Lots of great things to think about in this video. I only mentioned a few, so feel free to check out the video here and feel free to share your ideas!