Slumdog Education

If someone asked me what do you think would happen if  children living in povern stricken India, without any computer skills, suddenly gained access to a computer with high speed Internet?  I probably say sounds like the beginnings of outsourcing. No, all kidding aside I would have thought the children wouldn't know what to do with it because of there lack of experience in using it.

Boy, did Sugata Mitra prove me wrong.

In his series of educational experiments giving kids access to the Internet through  public kiosk in remote areas of India was an eye opener. The " Hole In The Wall"   project,  has installed computers with Internet connection in  remote locations around India for local children to discover it's wonders. He found that the children began to teach themselves math skills, browsing, and amazingly enough English  through social networking.  

As I think about the experiment more and more I can't say I'm surprised about the children's reaction to the kiosk.The  learning style of young children is curious by nature, having an instinct to make sense of the world around them.  They have a strong sense of need to examine and explore. As children we are constantly touch and watching things that interest us. In a classroom situation children are often passive learners where they hear constant lectures, but given a computer the children become more active learners because of their curiosity

What was unexpected and so amazing was the ability of these children to learn on their own from a machine they had never used or likely even seen, plus the problem of the language barrier in which they overcame. There were no teachers involved and no curriculum to follow. Their curiosity and ambition to learn, was the driving force to find out  what this kiosk could do. What was also incredible to see was the collaboration between children at the kiosk. Helping each other as they were learning. This not only speaks volumes of children’s ability to learn, but also of the power of social networks in learning. These social networks drove the yearning to learn more from these kiosks without fear of being wrong. The social setting  allows for a pressure free environment where students can make mistakes freely without the pressures of the standard classroom. For me Mitra experiment shows the power technology and social/collaborative learning. 

As I think about my own school as compared to these Kiosks, I feel the need to empower these students more. If students in remote India learn English and math skills off a kiosk out in public, what could my students do if they had a laptop in front of them. The time has changed for the teachers in my school to be lecturers to students who have 5 minute attention spans.We need to act more like facilitators and let students explored structured Internet lessons that allow them to learn from one another and at there own pace.

I hold steadfast to the belief that the more technology you introduce to the students, the more they are going to be actively engaged in what you are teaching. Students not only observe the world but also want to operate it, they are constantly trying to explore and process the world around them.  On their own or with their friends they have a curiosity that makes them want to understand how everything works.