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Independence and Learning
July 4, 2014
Adversity is an opportunity for creativity, because it forces one to dig deeper and discover something new about oneself.
-Paul T.P. Wong

In his TedTalk, "The child-driven education", Sugata Mitra from India talks about his experiments with turning computers over to children and then walking away and watching the amazing things children learn independently.  For example, here is his description of one experiment:

"And I set myself an impossible target: can Tamil speaking 12-year-old children in a South Indian village teach themselves biotechnology in English on their own? And I thought, I'll test them, they'll get a zero -- I'll give the materials, I'll come back and test them -- they get another zero, I'll go back and say, 'Yes, we need teachers for certain things.'"

"I called in 26 children. They all came in there, and I told them that there's some really difficult stuff on this computer. I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't understand anything. It's all in English, and I'm going. (Laughter) So I left them with it. I came back after two months, and the 26 children marched in looking very, very quiet. I said, 'Well, did you look at any of the stuff?' They said, 'Yes, we did.' 'Did you understand anything?' 'No, nothing.' So I said, 'Well, how long did you practice on it before you decided you understood nothing?' They said, 'We look at it every day.' So I said, 'For two months, you were looking at stuff you didn't understand?' So a 12 year-old girl raises her hand and says, literally, 'Apart from the fact that improper replication of the DNA molecule causes genetic disease, we've understood nothing else.'"







"Six Steps to Successful Child Advocacy: Changing the World for Children" offers an interdisciplinary approach to child advocacy, nurturing key skills through a proven six-step process that has been used to train child advocates and create social change around the world. The approach is applicable for micro-advocacy for one child, mezzo-advocacy for a community or group of children, and macro-advocacy at a regional, national, or international level. This practical text offers skill-building activities and includes timely topics such as how to use social media for advocacy. Case studies of advocacy campaigns highlight applied  approaches to advocacy across a range of issues, including child welfare, disability, early childhood, and education. Words of wisdom from noted child advocates from the U.S. and around the world, including a foreword from Dr. Jane Goodall, illustrate key concepts. Readers are guided through the process of developing a plan and tools for a real-life child advocacy campaign.
 

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Comments (1)

Displaying 1 Comment
Francis · July 04, 2014
Denver, CO, United States


So much for "intentional teaching"! There is a lot of benefit for letting students "mess around" with materials, concepts, and ideas. One benefit is that they cannot simply wait for the teacher to tell them what they need to know. Another is that they may well learn important things the teacher was not intending to teach! As adults we do this all the time.



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