A reflection on The child-driven
education by:
Sugata Mitra
The TED talk video with Sugata Mitra, discusses
an experiment he did in South Africa, Italy, and New Delhi (India). In this experiment, he gave children access to computers
and the web on their own time, and he would ask them questions of what things
were, he would give them a program on basic biology all in English, etc. These children were left to figure out the
answers for themselves and were given the opportunity to self-teach one
another. The results of this experiment was pleasantly shocking. These children
went beyond what was expected of them in terms of educational comprehension
results. Two things that were stated in video that really caught my attention were:
1.) A teacher that can be replaced by a machine should be (4:20) 2.) If
children have interest then education happens. (4:30) Though I agree with both
statements, its worry-some to me because it seems as if it’s already starting
to happen where machines are replacing teacher aspects. To me teaching is about
more than just reading from a book, giving homework and tests because even a
machine can do that. Teaching is about the connections whether it be teacher
student connection, or connecting the material given and how the student can
comprehend and relate it to their life. A good teacher makes material understandable
for multiple learning styles, they make personal connections with their students
to show they care for each child’s education and want to see them succeed, and
to create a safe environment where education and learning is fun and captures
the interest of the students; a computer can’t do those things. Interest is
truly what sparks education, because without it the desire to want to learn and
comprehend isn’t there. The idea of Sugata’s experiment possibly being
implemented in countries around the world is great for areas that don’t have
access to good teacher’s and many materials. It’s good because it allows for
children to have access to knowledge and information where things are limited
and it won’t stump their learning. However I still believe that a good teacher
is an asset that needs to be held on to, and something we desperately need more
of. In terms of ISTE standards, the experiment
connect most with #4 critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making. Which
shows how these children use critical thinking to discover information, to
solve problems ( like using google translate for language barriers),and discovering
decision making by working together and
creating tasks for one another to research.
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