Education and learning are not always the same thing. Sometimes the formality of the educational system makes us forget that learning is a natural human behavior. The best educators cultivate an attitude of wonderment in their students; they do not force their students’ attention, but rather awaken a dormant curiosity within them and stimulate their innate problem-solving abilities. I believe it was Piaget who stated that all learning stems from a state of puzzlement; a natural curiosity about one’s environment that fosters an attitude of “active experimentation.” In this TED talk (thanks Mary for bringing this to my attention), Sugata Mitra presents research from his Hole-in-the-wall experiments, which demonstrates how curiosity and collaboration can facilitate learning. Professor Mitra calls this Minimally Invasive Education.
Fantastic, motivating, clip. Promoting true learning without intervention looks chaotic because it has so many dimensions. The classroom is energetic, children are moving, looking over someones shoulder, LOUD.
By accident and working in a poor church school I discovered that children produced far better projects working two to a computer.
When I first started teaching in a small poor church school we had to put the children two to the computer for classes. At first, if there was an odd number and someone was able to work alone, most children would want to be the single user. After they saw the others talking, pointing, and working together it wasn’t long before most didn’t want to be alone. (Grade school age)
As a teacher I observed: the groups always prepared a better project and the skill of working cooperatively showed later in jr. high and high school. The ones who learned to use computers in this manner were more productive, creative, and better “team” mates. Students would work on projects such as posters about a topic instead of tasks such as “today we learn how to bold”. (I actually witness that in my teacher education observances). Only needed tasks were demonstrated it was mainly used to demonstrate how to access the tools and experimenting with the tools as needed. Type your name, here is how you bold, what do you think the “I” does? Now create a poster.
It was the greatest teaching experience of which I will probably never be able to do again.