When I first watched the video, I was intrigued by the spontaneous learning that took place in each test group. Surely, a teacher's presence is not needed to engender curiosity among students. In remote villages where schools are scarce or nonexistent, Sugata Mitra's model of technology and "granny clouds" serves a very real need, and those children can improve their educations far beyond what their parents could achieve in those same villages. Such circumstances are hardly the status quo in the U.S. Further, students in U.S. classrooms do not lack for stimulation. Given access to computers with internet, they would likely update their Facebook pages instead of teaching themselves about biology and history. But I don't think these obvious differences allow for anyone stateside to discount the 76 percent passing rate for the students in the test group which matched the students in the control group. As information has become accessible from virtually every point on the globe, the role of the educator must also evolve.
As I noted in my response to Anne Johnson's post on the subject, NPR did a piece on a similar topic two weeks ago. The story concerned the failure of the conventional lecture model in contemporary physics classes on university campuses (http://m.npr.org/story/144550920?url=/2012/01/01/144550920/physicists-seek-to-lose-the-lecture-as-teaching-tool&sc=fb&cc=fp). In place of the lecture, peer instruction had much greater success, much like the students Sugata Mitra documented. In the physics example, the instructor is not absent, nor has he been replaced with a virtual grandmother. Instead, he structures the focus of the lesson, often assigning online research to occur before the class convenes. After the peer instruction, the teacher leads a discussion about the reasoning behind a particular problem/lesson, carrying what was learned to a deeper level of thought. This, in my opinion, is the teacher's new domain, to push students beyond comprehension to critical analysis and further application.
It would be helpful for administrators to expose teachers to subject-specific examples of such "guide on the side" practices to replace the outdated and underperforming "sage on the stage" models. Teachers who have been comfortable with the status quo need some reassurances that an unfamiliar process does not signal the end of their careers, and respect for their experience and dedication should be demonstrated.
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI was so intrigued by Sugatra Mitra's TED video. 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". Classrooms of the 21st century are becoming less teacher centered and more student- centered. Our roles as teachers 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.
Annelle, thanks for responding. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think you said that you had done your second reading assignment on "Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovations Will Change the Way the World Learns." The authors in that book go into great detail on the kind of student-centered education you are referring to. After reading that book, especially the part about the widespread teacher shortage that this country may face with the retirement of the Baby Boomers, I think that these emerging models will become more of the norm. Students will be learning at their own pace within their particular learning styles, and teachers will be in a more supervisory role.
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