Sugata Mitra’s “Hole in the Wall” experiments have shown that, in the absence of supervision or formal teaching, children can teach themselves and each other, if they’re motivated by curiosity and peer interest.
To what extent is this already happening?
To be honest, so far in my high school experience i have barely encountered situations where a teacher gives the power or better yet trusts us, the students, enough to conduct ourselves on our own. This could be due to my involvement in honors/AP classes where curriculums are stricter and information has to be relayed in a short amount of time, but honestly if a teacher can not find a little time to deviate away from their original plans to incorporate and idea like this, then I feel the teacher is not entirely doing their job. Your class for example is an honors level class, but your entrusting us to want to better ourselves and go out and blog on our own, carry discussions among the class and to even argue our opinions with you. That is the type of environment that your creating in our class is what I feel Sugata Mitra’s lecture was all about. So to actually answer the question that you asked, \To what extent is this happening?\ My answer is simple, not a lot. As much as I am motivated by curiosity and peer interest, the teachers I have dealt with, do not factor that into their approach. Overall, I like this idea and it not only helps to build an atmosphere of self determination and learning, but helps to better us kids for what college is going to be like, cause for the most part teachers aren’t going to always be there to hold our hands through everything
“If children have interest, then education happens.” I believe this was the crux of Sugata Mitra’s “TED talk.” It was very evident that the students from various countries were very curious and their curiosity is what led them to the eventual success. I enjoyed this presentation because it made me realize how successful children really can become at such a young age. Speaking of bio-chemical theories is unheard of at age ten..especially in a divergent language than their own. I wonder if this continues in the future how especially interactive students may become. They already began Skyping with students from other countries which shows they are indeed interested. To a certain extent this kind of learning is happening..but i do not believe it is as successful because older students aren’s interested in this type of learning. For example- there are often times where teachers tell their students to open the book and read, take notes, and then eventually take a test. Sometimes there is no overview or lesson on what they have read. This is kind of similar to a “self organizing system.” Having the teacher tell the [grown] students to teach themselves is not exactly appealing as having Indian students from New Dheli learn English with no mentor..yet both are examples of self organizing systems. I think it depends on the circumstances of the situation to decide to what extent this way of learning is already happening.
To touch upon something that Rosie said in her post:
She pointed out the idea of pop quizzes as an example of how teachers can reduce their involvement with the students drive to do good, and actually put it on the students themselves. The reason I feel this is a great example because my way of thinking of when I did my post seemed to be that either teachers were completely involved or not at all. I let it go over my head the ideas that there is a middle ground. I think I was so hell bent on writing a somewhat intellectual response that I forgot to actually stop and think through what I was doing. So yeah I feel that a pop quiz or something along those lines totally demonstrate the ideals of Sugata MItra’s presentation. Building off of that I would like to renounce my statement that no other class I have appeals to my need for self determination because I realize now how wrong and stupid my statement was. Just today I can give two examples from two separate classes. In one of my classes I had a homework quiz which is a quiz that she tells us we are going to have on our homework each day. The point of this is for us to challenge ourselves with the homework problems at n ight so that we can do well on the quiz the next day. Cause somebody can easily just copy homework or not do it at all because there really is no punishment in this class. Yet, when you know that by extending yourself and doing the homework you can ultimately do better on the quiz she be a strong motivator. Another example, which just touches base with what I picked out from what Rosie said, is a pop quiz. Today I had one in my physics class which was in reference to our notes and readings, so that clearly is showing how initiative towards doing my readings will benefit me in the end. So yeah…. just wanted to clarify what I said before..
THANKS ROSIE!!
After watching this video, I felt as if I was more concerned with that fact that school attendance in the India slums was 0. At this day and age I thought that almost every kid in the world was receiving at least some kind of education, but I couldnt be more ignorant. I was also unaware of how far behind in technology third world countires all. It is strange to imagine computers as public tools, but in less fortunate countires this is how it is. I find that to third world country kid, a computer is an amazing device and it is a tool that is so facinating they dont want to leave it alone. For this reason they find the education being presented on the computers as very interesting and something they want to learn more about. As for developed countries, kids take for granded the tools they have avaliable to them and something as fascinating as a computer somehow doesnt seem to facinating anymore. I feel that teaching under privelged children this way is an obviously sucessful technique. After all, kids will always learn, and will always want to learn as long as you can keep their attention by teaching in interesting ways. After all, thats what makes a good teacher. Schools in places like the slums of india need to be filled and if i takes a “whole in the wall” then so be it.
I think the reason that some kids are motivated to learn on their own is because learning is somthing they want to do. Since kids in our coutry are required by law to get an education and there are certain classes we’re required to take inorder to graduate, school becomes something alot of kids dislike. At the same time, we’re lucky to even have the opportunity to get a formal education, especialy when you look at places like India when very few childern have that opportunity
I agree with Bert, I was also ignorant in thinking that almost every kid in the world was getting some sort of education no matter how small it was. Now I realize it is completely false. I also realize how much we take our school for granted. As Natalie was saying that kids take classes just because they have to in order to graduate. Kids do build up a strong dislike for school. I would say partly due to being uninterested or bored in a subject that they must take. I’ll make sure to think twice when regretting a class or disliking a teacher, because I am very lucky to have the education I do.
I agreed with what Sugata Mitra said in the video. I liked his view on the topic of education and he way he motivated kids to learn. Although the kids had no idea what he was trying to do, they made it work and were able to understand a little bit. Teachers in our school have a select way of thinking, and i believe if we did it Sugata Mitra’s way, students would be more excited to come to school everyday! He got the attendance percent to go up, some kids learned a little English, and even began to memorize knowledge from working in groups. I think what Sugata Mitra is doing to show our world whats really going on is amazing andmore people should try to help and support his wonderful project!
Sugata Mitra ‘s view on education was that, children can do anything if they want to and if they have the right motivation. I think that his argument was very good and that the way he motivated the students to learn was an excellent way to keep the children interested in topics many children find boring. He brought computers to parts of the world that did not have the same access to the technology or the education systems that many children take for granted. This wondrous new technology amazed the kids and they wanted to learn everything they could about how to use it. He used the kids curiosity to help them learn many new concepts and these kids barely even realized that the fun they were having was learning. I believe that Sugata Mitra’s mantra “students will learn what they want to learn” is very true for all parts of the world. Students have an easier time learning when the topic interests them or when the topic is fun to learn. More boring subjects are harder for students to grasp especially when they do not want to learn about these topics in the first place. The children who were given the computers were having fun learning how to use this new technology that it seemed like a game to them. The were learning new concepts without even knowing it and were having much fun in the process. So to sum up, more people should think about student learning like Sugata Mitra did. He figured out that a student is only as good as their interest level in the topic.
This video shows that students are able to learn by themselves if they have motivation, this is not happening enough where students are motivated to learn new things. This is because students are not given that kind of freedom in school where they get to just teach themselves. They have to take certain classes in order to graduate, some classes may be boring to them so they’re less motivated. Teachers talk constantly during their class to explain a certain topic, not giving students chances to be collaborative and learning hands on. Some people who are able to receive the proper education take it for granted. However, in the Hole In The Wall experiment done by Sugata Mitra shows that students are eligible to learn what the wont to learn with no adult supervision or formal methods or teaching. Students are able to learn by themselves if you give them the necessary resources and time, they also need to be motivated and curious to learn. The video takes place in India, where kids don’t even go to school. When Matra set up computers around the town, children would go up and try to learn how it works. They would play new games and compete with their peers, with no adults or teachers watching over them. In a small town of New Delhi, Matra brought in a few students to help with his experiment. He left them alone for two months and let them figure the test out on their own. At first they knew absolutely nothing, but after two months they gained more knowledge; they now knew about neurons. Overtime, he saw that students were able to pick up on the English accent and that kids are more motivated to learn new things. Matra experiment shows that there are certain things that children still need to be taught on, but there are subjects students can hatch out on their own due to motivation.
I agree with Sugata Mitra that children can teach themselves and each other, if they’re motivated by curiosity and peer interest . Children in class can watch a video and then take notes on the subject in class but how much effort and how much they want to learn about it comes from their interest about the subject. If they like the subject they can teach themselves more about it. In the video Mitra was saying that if children found an interest in the topic then they where most likely to want to keep learning about it. Also in the video he let the children learn on the computer and then they kept learning. In Italy, Mitra taught at a school and he only used English. But, the children translated the English to Italian and they where able to do their work. Some continued to understand English because they had an interest in the topic. So, I agree that students will learn on their own if they have an interest in the topic.
After watching the video I agree that children can teach them self’s. But, they will only do this if they are interested in learning. In class you are with a teacher who expects you to learn and be learning while in their class. The teacher is the one making you learn and letting you learn. If you did not have a teacher to make you learn or keep you interested would you learn without them? Motivation is a key factor in this, if your learning about something you want to succeed in or follow up on later then you want to get as much knowledge as you can. The problem is most kids don’t think that they need some subjects later in life so they won’t be interested in learning without the teacher looking over their shoulder. The more people are involved into learning the more they will learn, therefore being able to learn by yourself will increase your learning and make it easier to learn.
From Sugata Mitra’s lecture, it is known that kids can learn anything they want, if they have motivation to do so. I agree with his statement. The students really wanted to figure out how to use the technology provided to them. However, I do not think that students in more privileged parts of the world will show the results Mitra saw. This is because we have already had tons of experience on computers. Most of the kids in the video had little to no knowledge of how a computer works, and I think part of the motivation in those kids was just the excitement of being able to use new technology. If Mitra were to conduct his experiment in our town and in our school, he would have to work harder to get us excited to learn.
When Mitra went to Italy, there was a language barrier between him and his students. If he were to come to our school and use the same procedure as he did in Italy, using another language instead, he could easily grab our attention and get our “gears” in motion. However, lots more effort would be involved in keeping us involved.
Over all, with certain students in mind, I don’t believe the spark will last long . We can be bored easily, so it would take a lot more effort to turn our school into a SOLE. Even then, some students may not thrive that way.
Sugata Mitra’s experiment proved that children can learn about anything they put their minds to. Nowadays, if children want to learn about a specific topic, they can hop online and access numerous sources in a matter of seconds. For instance, if someone wanted to learn how to knit, they could go online and watch videos explaining how to. Although, if people are not interested in a subject, they will not make an effort to learn about it. Students need to be curious on their own in order to learn about information when authority is absent. In the video, it showed that children learned how to understand a question in another language by having an interest in it. They wanted to know what the phrase meant so they translated it in a matter of minutes. This same fascination allows people to learn about topics that interest them. Therefore, children can learn about anything they put their minds to.
I also believe that students are able to learn in an environment where they just have their peers. Sugata Mitra and his tests showed that even kids have the responsibility and key knowledge to figure new ideas out. As long as the students have their materials and are eager to learn about the topic, they should be allowed to discover hands-on. Figuring out how to do something is a lot more different than being shown what to do, which can possibly make it easier for students to understand what’s going on. Although, yes, students will need the supervision and help from teachers, it is proven that they can work their way without major guidance. That being said, teachers shouldn’t give students complete freedom and should help out with steering what the students learn. In conclusion, yes, students are fully capable of teaching themselves, but a small aid of teachers will definitely improve the learning experience.
The video shows kids being able to successfully learn on their own. They wanted to learn and showed an interest in education. I agree with Sugata Mitra when he says how kids will learn if they are interested. The kids were very interested with the technology and shows how they problem solved their way to teach themselves. Mitra challenged them by giving them a question to answer and the kids were curious and motivated. As a group, they taught themselves to translate and search information up. They thought it was all a game. Today, students are forced to learn things they don’t want to learn. They show a lack of interest. The Indian kids did not have they type of education we do. When they saw the computer, they were fascinated by it and wanted to know the purpose of it. They taught themselves how to work it and it expanded their knowledge and concept of things.
After watching the video I agree with Sugata Mitra because in the video it showed students excelling at what they want to learn. When the children found something they wanted to do they became professionals on the subject. In schools now children can’t do a single thing without the consent of the teacher so they have no room or time to explore. In the video the children did what they wanted to do and talked to each other about it to solidify their knowledge. Some children taught themselves to be teachers but only to help the others with finding out what they want to know. In schools now when a child is given a choice they don’t know what to do because throughout their entire lives they were told what to do and how to do it. Instead of teaching kids just how to do things teachers should teach kids how to learn and explore the subject so that is becomes more fun for the student instead of just repeating what the teacher showed them but with different wording. When Mitra gave the children in Delhi, India a computer in a wall they had to figure out how to do what they wanted to do and they did. The children learned in just two weeks how to browse and install games. When a child is motivated to do something like the kids in Delhi were education happens and it happens fast. Not only is the child having fun with the subject they also want to be more involved with it and learn more about it because they like it so much. In conclusion the more a child is motivated to do something the child will learn it quicker and learn more about it.
I feel as though students to an extent do have opportunities to learn without supervision, however it is not enough. It is rare that students can learn on their own and independently with out a teacher or adult hovering their shoulder monitoring them. It is understandable to think that students wouldn’t be productive in learning on their own or teaching themselves because of the fact it is assumed they have no motivation. But by giving students computers which I’ve had access to my whole educational career students can learn about things that they want to. Students would be more engaged and motivated to learn more if they had free rule of their education. Which they can do with computers and without a hovering adult presence. In the school environment there is very clearly a system that is followed and it is keeping students from their potential, so yes to an extent there is independent technology based learning going on, but only to a very short extent.
After I watching the video I agree with Sugata Mitra. Sugatra Mitra believed that children could teach themselves . But they would only do that if they are interested in what they are learning. For example Sugatra Mitra put a computer in the middle of a city and the kids were interested in the computer and were able to learn how to use it. If students are in a class that they don’t find interesting they will not learn about the subject. But if students are put in a class they are interested in and like they will learn about the subject. I think that the schools should start using Sugatra Mitra’s method because kids will want to come to school and learn and not be bored instead.
Sugata Mitra’s purpose for this talk was to show that students will learn if they want to. Also that if there is no teacher or supervisor present that students will teach themselves and others. I believe this is true. Personally, I learn best when my peers explain things to me. I feel as though students believe their friends a little more than they would a teacher. So far in my education there really has only been a few times that a friends was able to teach me or others something. We are always so focused on the fact that because they are the TEACHER they should TEACH us. But I disagree I believe students should have more times where they can work things out themselves, and then maybe be able to help others understand.
The video showed how the students learned how to use a computer because they wanted to and not forced to. These kids had never used a computer before, but because using the computer was something they wanted to do, they could teach themselves to. This is already happening to some extent. For example in schools students can choose to join clubs. Students are interested in the club they join and they collaborate with peers in the clubs so they are able to teach themselves. While this is happening, in school students aren’t teaching themselves. They may be learning things that don’t interest them and they aren’t teaching themselves, a teacher is giving them all the information. This shows that while this is happening, it’s not happening to a great extent.
Based on Suga Mitra’s “Hole in the Wall” experiment, it proved that if teachers left their students by themselves with only a computer to use as a resource, they would be able to learn more efficiently. This is because they are curious and have interest while using this type of technology, which is new to them. Additionally, this experiment also proved that students are better off without a teacher because they are able to take control for their own learning while they work independently. Along with the technology we have today, this is still happening because people will always have different interests than others. Therefore, if students were able to work alone and have their own type of technology to use for resources, everyone would be able to take control of their own education and become more successful in what they decide to do with the resources they have.
Sugata Mitra’s view on education is that students could teach themselves what they want to know with technology. He conducted an experiment that tested if people could learn something they know nothing about. The students were able to do it and passed with a 76 percent. In school, students only get a little freedom in what they want to learn. Every student has to study the core subjects, however in high school they get the option for 2 to 4 electives. Electives let people study subjects that aren’t required that they enjoy. Still, the electives don’t let kids choose what they want to learn. Every teacher has a curriculum that they need to follow. They have units and lessons. The reason the student chose the elective is so they could learn what they want, but those units and lessons sometimes aren’t what they want to learn. It could even discourage the child’s interest in the topic. Having a student directed learning experience could be what they need to be excited for learning.
Sugata Mitra’s “Hole in the Wall” experiment showed that even without a teacher kids can learn better if they teach themselves something they are interested in. While we do have enough technology nowadays, this doesn’t happen very often. Students now will always have teachers pushing them and giving hours of homework. Also, there is a strict curriculum that we have to stay on top of. It’s harder for kids to teach themselves today because they aren’t allowed to take most of the classes that they want to take and are interested in. Also, kids don’t have time with all of the homework they get and all of the tests that they have to study for. Kids now have piles of classwork, homework, and tests that they have to do no matter what. With another subject added to all of that it would be too much for anyone to handle. So even if kids wanted to teach themselves something most of them can’t.
In Sugata Mitra’s “Hole in the Wall” experiments, he helped prove that children can teach themselves and others without the assistance of a teacher or supervisor when they have the proper motivation. The late British writer, Arthur C. Clarke, is quoted by Mitra as saying “if children have interest, then education happens.” Left to their own devices, children can teach themselves if they are curious and their peers are also interested. In today’s world, people use technology on a daily basis. They freely browse websites, blogs, articles, and news reports that spark their curiosity and they absorb the things that appeal to their interests. When students are required to retain information that doesn’t appeal to them, they often tend to forget this information over time. It’s not that these students don’t have the capacity to learn; it’s that the information they have tried to retain did not spark interest in their minds. One example of students learning better when the subject interests them is found in the choice of electives. In high school, students are free to choose their electives when previously they had been chosen for them. I have come across many peers who disliked or resented a class which they were forced to take back in middle or elementary school. But once they enrolled in high school, they were able to choose electives that suited their interests. They finally had gotten a chance to focus on subjects that interest them, either as a hobby, or possibly as a future profession. So, to a small extent, this is happening in our local schools. Mitra has made a thought provoking assertion and has been able to prove it with experiments. Curiosity and the motivation to learn are perhaps more important than formal supervision.
In this day and age, anyone can do anything. If they have a goal they want to accomplish, and they keep persevering, they will achieve it someday. Mitra’s Hole in the Wall experiment explains how children can be educated better without a teacher. It may take long time for them to learn it, but it will get stuck in their heads. In the Experiment, one girl was able to study biology (in english) so well she started teaching the class until they all got it. The students were able to translate the passage about biology, and understand it. Students may need help in school with the teachers and paras, but with no teacher, the students do fine as well. Say the brand new brand of phone came out, but know one knows how to use it, except for one person. That person will teach their friends how to use it, and they teach others. That is an example of how people can accomplish something with out a guide. Students will want to learn much more if they had the power to choose what they wanted to learn. Peter Hutton, a teacher from Australia, said that one student wanted to take on grade 12 math, but was in grade 11. Most schools would not allow that, but at the school he was in, they said he could do it. He excelled in that class. Students learn more when given the choice of what to learn. When they don’t, they get bored and don’t want to learn anything. They don’t want to go to school.
After watching the video,I learned that students can do a lot when they teach themselves. Some of them went from not knowing how to work a computer to teaching their peers how to use them. They even were able to make music and play it back to them. This shows that students can teach themselves if they wanted to. One of the quotes that best describes this and stood out to me the most during thew video was “If children are interested, then you have education”.
The video showed me that children are able to teach themselves without a teacher. The children were put in a position where they had to learn new things by themselves. However, in my experience, I haven’t been put in a position where the teacher gives up all control. We always get directions on what to do and how to do it and we don’t have any choices on how we want to learn. Some teachers try to do this but they always end up going back to the way that they want things done. I think this would help students to become more responsible and feel more “in control” in school. Students would be able to work hands-on in the classroom and teach themselves the way they want to be taught. Overall, I feel that teachers should give up some control to an extent in order for students to work in a better learning environment.
In Sugata Mitra’s “Hole in the Wall” it proves that kids do want to learn by themselves and they do want to fly solo. These kids took control over their own learning and really wanted to learn. Also the more info, they learned the more they wanted to learn about new subjects. There is one difference between the kids in Delhi and us though. Most kids in Delhi never seen a computer and were so excited to learn. Us though we have seen a computer and it is nothing special to us. This means kids in America probably aren’t so excited to learn and a lot of them wouldn’t want to fly solo. Me personally I would like to fly solo and take control of my learning. Learn what I wanted to and not what the common core system said we “need” to learn about. Most stuff we don’t even need. Unless if I’m a carpenter (which I am not planning on being) I will never need to know how to rotate a triangle.I want to take control of my learning and learn about what I think is important. If I am learning about completely useless things that’s why the teachers are here, to keep you on track, not to take control.
I feel as though that there isn’t enough of independent learning using technology. In most maybe all classes, students just get told the information and they have to retain it. We use technology every single day, but it isn’t really being put to good use. At the end of the day, students do school work for the grade. That’s because they are unmotivated to learn and can’t see past the number that is put on a piece of paper. There would be a lot more learning if students were genuinely interested in the topic. For every class, there is a curriculum. That curriculum restricts what we learn. What if there are subjects outside of the curriculum that we aren’t exposed to? We can’t learn about other topics because we have to learn whats in the curriculum. Therefore, we don’t have that much freedom. As a student, we do use technology for research projects to gain information. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean we are truly learning. Even when we are using technology for school, there are always restrictions. For example, when writing a paper the teacher chooses what we write about. We are told how and what to write. This gives the impression that, there is only one way to do things. That’s how I’ve been taught in school throughout my life. If students were given more of a chance to do what their full potential is, they can be exposed to more opportunities. Conclusively, there is a small amount of independent learning going on but there should be more.
High school is a very big step for many of us and sometimes we cannot do it alone. I agree with Mitra´s experiment. I believe that with the use of technology, students and kids can collaborate and learn from each other. In the video, he had the kids work together and use the computer to find answers to his questions. Then he later had them work by themselves, isolated from outside resources. The test score average stayed the same both times. The scores did not improve and they were 76%, a average. I am saying that separating the kids will not make a difference in their grades. They also teach each other or learn from one another. Like in the video, a boy was teaching a younger girl how to use the computer, and neither of them had most likely any experience with a computer. When they work together, many different mindsets can create or solve anything better and easier. With collaboration, they have more fun and learn more together. Overall Mitra´s experiment had a positive impact on the students everywhere.
I believe that this ted talk with Sugata Mitra was about education and understanding how kids will learn and want to learn. In this video, Mitra explains his experiment of placing computers in places around the world and seeing how kids will react when put to the test to learn. The results were amazing! Mitra found out that when kids are alone and put to learning, they can teach themselves! Nowadays, this doesn’t really occur anywhere. In all of my past schools, we do everything that the teacher says. For example, we have to take notes even if we don’t find the topic interesting and do work even if we don’t understand the topic. We do however have some small freedoms such as sometimes picking groups for projects and choosing what electives we want to take. but there still really is no extent in my personal education experience where I get to teach myself. If there were though, people could take it into use differently which could either possibly excel their learning or send it plummeting.
Based on Suga Mitra’s “Hole in the wall” experiment, it proves that students are more motivated to learn if they are interested about the topic and teach themselves. I believe his experiment with the kids are different between kids in the united states or other places that offer education to all because we are required to learn so we may not have the same interest as them. We are more forced into learning the basic skills instead of choosing and being interested. Now, we are allowed to pick our electives like art,band,culinary,interior design,etc basically what you want to do but even in those classes we are being taught the right and wrong things so we don’t really get to explore on the content. I believe that the more we approach the future the more students can really express and learn by themselves because it is improving but there are still restrictions.To me, interior design helps express the idea because you can express what you want your room to be and explore all the funtions like 3D and perspective. You can learn those by yourself without having the teacher tell you. Also, many teachers tend to express for students to “search,explore,discover” independently first so they can teach themselves how or with peers help like in the video the girl took the role as the teacher to teach the other kids that wanted to learn to. I believe the art of kids learning independently first and teaching others if they are motivated and intrigued increases everyday in schools.
Students have been using their brains to write down tons of information from slide to slide. They can’t learn in class because their to focused on trying to get all the notes in their notebook. Then, they’re told to study these terms and it’s the same thing every time. What if the students could get in groups and try to figure out what or how to do this material by bouncing ideas off each other. Well in the video “Flying Solo. Would you?”, Sugata Mitra went all around the world and put computers in the wall. With children that have never seen or used technology before, he wanted to see if they could use different ideas to figure out how to use and do the activities on the computer. He took the risk of seeing if they could answer questions in a different language. Mitra asked the kids two months later and turns out a little girl conquered it. This shows that we can teach ourselves without a teacher. In my classes this isn’t happening, we are getting told the material. The teacher just moves question to question with no time to think. Mitra’s ideas are key to give students a better education.
The “hole in the wall” experiment shows that curiosity is more powerful than direction. The children were more motivated to learn by the curiosity of the computer, rather than what teachers would have told them to do. Hands-on experiments may help in schools; however, the teachers telling exactly what and how the learning process should go does not help students’ will to learn. For example, in math, we had a hands-on activity where we walked around the room, factored quadratics, and the answers showed us where to go next. This was a great activity, however the learning process is already laid out and may not help some students. On the contrary, in biology, we had a different attempt at understanding concepts; we had to figure out how to get a candy into a plastic bag without opening the bag, to which we had had no prior learning about. I had a “eureka!” moment when I figured out how this connected to diffusion, how to do it, and how it all fits together. This is how learning should be, because it provides students with a strong and continuous will to learn. The curiosity of “what comes next?” of the computer motivated the “hole in the wall” students to learn. Regular schooling was obviously not working, and this shows clearly what our next step in educating should be: independent learning.
After watching the “Hole in the wall” experiment, I have found many interesting points and they made me reflect on my high school life. Sugata Mitra made a point that really stuck out to me. He said that students are more likely to show off their learning with other students rather than with teachers. And when comparing it to Foran, it somewhat feels like it’s turning into that. For example, I find myself helping other students and having to figure it out subjects by myself rather than the teacher helping me. And sometimes it comes with a positive outcome, but mostly negative, since I don’t understand any of it. But, the children’s ability to “become” the teacher is so fascinating and that could potentially be used in the future. (independent learning) The curiosity of students can help their peers and their learning. In addition, teachers are slowly getting less needed and there can be positives and negatives. Mitra challenged children with a different language rather than rushing to get notes down in their notebook. The children and the art of independence is how learning should be in my opinion. In my classes, it varies from class to class. At home, I find it easier to stay focused and learn more. For example, when learning about something I’m interested in, it’s fun! Being forced to sit in a class for a certain amount of time doesn’t give me any motivation because this content isn’t relevant to me. You have to be able to motivate yourself in order to learn efficiently. In science, we are learning about the cells and molecules and none of it interests me and that’s why I don’t have a grade I would like. But in interior design, it’s something that I am interested in and that’s why I’m always happy to walk in. This aspect of learning is incorporated in many ways in my everyday school life. Regular school learning is going to change greatly over the next decade for sure.
Watching the “Hole in the Wall” experiment has made me wonder why teachers are needed because this experiment shows that students can teach themselves if they are motivated by their curiosity. But, if students are not motivated I think that’s where the teachers role plays a very important part in the education of teens and children. Sugata Mitra has made a great point that students would rather learn with others than with teachers. That idea is so interesting and really makes me question the importance of teachers. Some teachers may not motivate their students and make education and the learning process even harder for them. In my school, we have a lesson during class and then usually have homework and classwork on what we just learned and observed. It is a great idea for students to figure it out themselves and be able to help each other and learn with the other students around us. But if their is no curiosity or interest, the students won’t learn and have a great education. In the video a girl took charge as the “teacher” which was very interesting to me. For a student to take charge of the situation and want to help everyone else learn is pretty impressive. To have no teacher the students would have to be very focused and have a goal to accomplish. Having an interest in a subject is an extremely important part of learning and accomplishing your goals. If you don’t like a subject you don’t have much interest and you wouldn’t care to put a lot of work into it. I feel that teaching and learning can change a lot with this idea that was portrayed in the video.
After watching the video “Hole In the Wall,” it kind of changes my view on both education, and technology. However, it also shows how far technology has come. In the video, the technology that is used, is kind of seen as high tech, even though they would be considered slow and ‘bad,’ if they were used or talked about in 2019. However, I see technology a lot differently after viewing this video, because of how it is used. Instead of using technology for exclusively for entertainment, like it is mostly used for around now. This video shows that people can be both independent, and many people have a thirst for knowledge. It has kind of shown me that technology is very beneficial to society, and it shows that I was wrong in my assertion about technology being a detriment to society, because without it, people wouldn’t be able to advance their learning process.
Sugata Mitra’s “Hole in the Wall” experiment showed that even without a teacher kids can learn better if they teach themselves something they are interested in. While we do have enough technology nowadays, this doesn’t happen very often. Students now will always have teachers pushing them and giving hours of homework. Also, there is a strict curriculum that we have to stay on top of. It’s harder for kids to teach themselves today because they aren’t allowed to take most of the classes that they want to take and are interested in. Also, kids don’t have time with all of the homework they get and all of the tests that they have to study for. Kids now have piles of classwork, homework, and tests that they have to do no matter what. With another subject added to all of that it would be too much for anyone to handle. So even if kids wanted to teach themselves something most of them can’t.
This video was very interesting it made me think about why we need teachers in the beginning. It showed the children with this computer that they have never seen or used before, and they figured out how to use it. Children in the U.S. see education as boring and they don’t necessarily see computers as something new, but the children in India are willing to learn something new because they never had the opportunity too. We often take education and other things for granted and don’t think about what we really have. Later on in the video we see why people need teachers. The man doing the experiment sets up a biology program on the computer for the children. The children worked on it everyday but they couldn’t understand it and could of lacked a sort of motivation, but after a few months the children’s test grades slowly rose. This could be because they were willing to learn. In the video they set up a system of grandmothers for moral support to help the children. They quizzed them and provoked them to go deeper into the question. The teacher purpose is to provide the student with a challenge and then help them through it and encourage them, like the grandmother system they set up. Overall from this Ted Talk you can see that technology has had a very positive affect on the worlds education.
After watching the video “Hole in The Wall” a subject that stood out to me was, that kids don’t necessarily need teachers to learn if they have some type of access to the internet but, this is only if there is some type of interest in what they need to learn otherwise, the children would not be learning the information they are finding but just reciting what they read with it having no meaning to them, which is what the education system is today. In the video, Sugata Mitra touches fact and even says “If children have interest, education happened.” (4:28). This is saying that if the kids don’t have the motivation to learn then the learning or education won’t happen. So how do kids get the motivation? They get this from the teachers and their own curiosity. So, by implementing technology in classrooms and not pushing it away, the students will have the motivation to learn and could get a better education faster.
While technology is being integrated into education, technology is not being used to the extent of Sugata Mitra’s “hole in the wall” experiment, and is arguably decreasing students’ learning and growth. In Mitra’s experiment, children were left to their own devices, and these children decided to research information that they wanted to know. What many people fail to realize is that, while Mitra does in fact argue that technology will allow children to be more engaged, his entire argument is hinged on the fact that teachers don’t interfere in the educational process, and instead are there for support and praise. The whole point of education is to serve children -however, in school, students aren’t allowed to be children- teachers say that they encourage curiosity, and teachers say that they want students to collaborate, yet teachers don’t allow students to choose what interests them or allow children to talk about whatever they want to talk about with their friends. Regardless of what any two people are talking about, these two people can walk away from the conversation with a completely new set of information. People will always learn something, regardless of what they discuss. Therefore, in stopping students from talking, and in forcing students to research only certain topics, teachers are discouraging curiosity, engagement, collaboration, and creativity, and therefore create an environment that is detrimental to education.
I believe that to an extent this is happening right now but it is not nearly as successful as the experiment and i believe that this is because students in america have been put through kindergarten, elementary, middle school and now high school doing essentially the same thing year after year and are now fed up of it. This lack of interest leads to lack of curiosity which is why students are not fully engaging in their learning. i believe that if we only had say 4 years of school students would be more engaged and focused because there is so much to learn. As a benefit of this change school days wouldn’t be boring anymore because we wouldn’t be learning useless equations and writing pointless essays. I believe that by the point we reach high school we have already learned everything that is useful to us so we just get taught useless information that truthfully we will never use. If teachers want to keep their students engaged maybe they should try teaching useful information which will keep them interested and wanting to know more which will influence their ability to learn. Instead of giving us a book and telling us to take notes, they should give us a topic and tell us to research it and learn about it on our own.
After watching the “Hole in the Wall” experiment done by Sugata Mitra, I wonder why we still have teachers today. When we didn’t have modern day technology in education, teachers were there to teach us the things that we needed to learn. Without them we couldn’t learn anything. Today we have the resources to learn and gain an education without a teacher’s help. This was evidenced in the “Hole in the Wall” experiment. In this experiment, a computer was placed in a town/village. Young children came and started to learn, and help each other learn with only this computer. There was no teacher there. This shows that we really don’t need teachers to get an education because with the resources we have today, we can learn for ourselves. The children we actively engaged in what they were learning because they were learning what they wanted to learn. Students today are bored with what they are learning because they are forced to learn what they have to learn. This is a way that students could become more involved and engaged in their education. I personally find myself asking for classmates if I need help or have a question more than my teacher. It is just as easy if not easier to get help from a friend in my class as it is to go to the teacher about it. The children in the experiment were able to help each other to learn. I can see that students have been given a small amount of freedom in school to be able learn their own way, but we haven’t been give that much freedom. We still have to do the assignments that our teachers give us in the time frame that our teachers give us. I feel that today’s students are ready to learn more on their own. Teachers are still needed to help give additional help and answer questions that classmates can’t, but we are capable to learn on our own because of the technology in the world. The school system has changed so much over the course in history, and with today’s world always changing, school will only continue to change.
After watching the video “Hole in the Wall,” something stood out to me. That being, students can learn without the help of teachers. Students have access to many resources in which they can learn what ever they need and what they are interested in. In Sugata Mitra’s experiment, he leaves children with computers and these children decide to learn what was interesting to them. In classrooms today, students are limited in their learning possibilities because they are forced to learn what the teacher tells them to. However, without teachers telling each student what to learn, they will have more enthusiasm in learning because they will be able to learn what they are interested in. Rather than topics that may bore them. Mitra’s argument is hinged on the idea that teachers interfere with the educational opportunities that are available in the classroom for students. Teachers are restricting the creativity, collaboration, and curiosity of students by limiting what they learn in school. By doing so, it becomes detrimental to the education of students.
In the experiment done by Sugata Mitra, I believe that it showed a great representation about what is to come in the future for schools. The kids in the video were determined to learn so they taught themselves how to use the computer and what to look up. Although this may seem good that the students are teaching themselves, it may not be. Removing teachers will get rid of the helpful, generous, and knowledgeable adults that can help the kids with whatever problems they have. If someone does not know what to do next or they run into a problem doing something, then they can just ask a teacher and they will help them right away. Also, not having a teacher could create a good effect. It could make bonds between the children in the class because if they had a question then they all could try and figure it together. They would have many brains instead of one. I believe that this will eventually happen because school is already changing so much with all of the technology so it will continue to change and may develop into a kid’s only learning environment.
The main issue in education today is with a ginormous lack of interest in the students coming and going throughout schools. As the years go by children become less and less engaged in their studies and for a good reason. As a child we are more enveloped with our learning and involved so we absorb it better, however, as we go into harder education we lose interest for the material becomes stale. Schools are not lettings students discover anymore, rather they hand them the knowledge. Students are now almost robotic. Receive the work. Complete the work. Study. Take a test. Move on. That is the endless cycle of a student these days where the process involves nothing of substance. Failure is one of the most important milestones to success and now it is no longer apart of the learning process due to teachers restricting the students. Kids can be more than capable of learning alone. It may even re-spark their focus and interest. I think the school system would improve by restructuring the curriculum so the students are the ones teaching themselves and others. This idea is all based around a quote from the video, “With interest, there is education”. This quote means just as it states. When kids are interesting in a topic they automatically become motivated to learn. Teachers transferring to the back-burner to let students grow would be a huge, but beneficial change and it needs to be done.
The whole video is revolves around the fact that when technology is implemented into the world with no teachers or influence, the children will research what they want to research, and do what they want to do with no on there to watch. The conclusion that Sugata Mitra came to after watching the children interact with the computer, was that children will learn what they want even when there is no one there to influence them. What sticks out in the video that can be concluded is that students don’t necessarily need a teacher to learn new things. There was also the line, “If children have interest, education happened.” (4:28). This mentions the fact that there is learning when children are interested, it doesn’t have to be math, science, or school subjects, it could be sports or cooking and students would still be learning.
I think this experiment is very interesting. I think this method of “teaching” could work for many students. I think this is happening more often than it did 10 years ago. We are using computers and digital technology every day, so we can discover new things by ourselves. We do this in school to answer questions and learn new material. We sometimes do this at home to learn about things we are interested. There should still be teachers because there are some things people can’t find on the internet or in books, and teachers can help if you are unsure about how to do something. They also need to motivate people because a lot of students are not interested in learning and need a push to learn on their own.
This video is displaying a child’s ability to obtain information without being forced to. If a student is interested in what they are learning, they are more likely to learn and want to learn it. This is already happening today. For example, students today often in excel a one or two classes more than others because of specific interests they may have in school. They are more eager to learn a certain topic as opposed to a topic that they are being forced to learn because of district requirements. If a student is being told to do something for school that they do not want to do or are not interested in, they will most likely not put as much effort into it or try as hard. In today’s world, if a student does not want to do something, they will take out their phone or computer and not listen to the teacher. Or they will talk to other students about how “boring” the class is and much they want to be at home. They will only pay attention and listen if they want to.
After watching the short video the “Hole in the Wall”, I agree with Natalie O’s statement. Students today take for granted the education they receive. Some kids in society today do not realize what great opportunities education provides. Also, students in modern times do not come to the realization that some places do not have education. For example, the kids in India had to teach themselves to use the computer implanted in a wall. After they figured out how to operate it, they taught other kids how to use it. Meanwhile, in the United States, majority of students dislike school and don’t want to go. Society should learn to come to the conclusion that education benefits all.