This is a response to the TED talk: Sugata Mitra: The Child Driven Education
This was a very interesting video. The lessons about teaching or learning include that students with little or no background knowledge and language barriers are capable of problem solving and learning without the assistance of a teacher. Computers were placed in "Hole in the Walls" of very poverty strickened areas such as India and South Africa. It was amazing to see the tasks given to these children and how they were able to navigate on a computer with little or no prior knowledge and answer questions or more importantly learn new information. All of the students were from low socio economic poverty strickened areas, however through the use of techonolgy their world opened up. The implications for my teaching or learning include that I need to be more hands off and allow students to explore and solve problems without so much direction and instruction. I really enjoyed the "Grandmother Approach" which was used in the video. They asked a group of British Grandmothers to support and encourage the students, however be in the background and just be there to cheer the students on. It showed evidence that Education is a Self Organizing System. In my own classroom, I often want all students to achieve their goals in the way I present the directions. After watching this video, I see that given more freedom to be creative, even 5 year old children are capable of working in groups and problem solving. They also may come to a different and better outcome than I could have predicted.
Written by: Michelle Guidry 1/14/12
Yvette, It would be very difficult for them to do well in this type of project, because I feel they are used to an adult taking them by the hand and guiding them along. I feel the school as a whole would have to change thier teaching methods in order to achieve success. We would have to try this approach in small doses and encourage them by saying no answer is a wrong answer. They do like the comfort of directions layed out and they like to know what comes next in their day. It would be a whole new way of teaching and thinking. Trying it in another language would also be difficult. My students extent of computer skills are mainly learning games not googling informaiton, but it is something to think about. Thanks, Michelle
ReplyDeleteAnnelle - Comment to Michelle on Child Driven Education
ReplyDeleteHonestly, after watching the TED, I almost stood up and cheered!
Towards the end of Sugata Mitra's TED talk, he showed the following slide..."Education is a self-organizing system, where learning is an emergent phenomenon" As a middle school Science teacher who teaches students who are a lot more tech savvy than most 15-20 year veteran teachers, I strongly feel that students should be able to take charge of how they are learning using technology by "navigating the internet to achieve learning on their own". With so much technology at our children's fingertips, our roles as teachers are changing. Classrooms of the 21st century are becoming less teacher centered and more student centered. With the help of 21st Century Learning, through the use of technology, students are learning by doing, and the teacher acts as a coach, helping students as they work on projects. Students use appropriate resources and opportunities to create a learning environment that allows each child to construct his or her own knowledge while collaborating with others. The teacher acts as facilitor and is in tune with her students and knows how to pace lessons and provide meaningful work that actively engages students in their learning. Teachers will always have an important role in the classroom but as teachers our roles are changing. Our roles are changing from the primary role as a dispenser of information to orchestrator of learning, and helping students turn information into knowledge, and knowledge into wisdom.