How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses | Wired Business He started by telling them that there were kids in other parts of the world who could memorize pi to hundreds of decimal points. They could write symphonies and build robots and airplanes. Most people wouldn't think that the students at José Urbina López could do those kinds of things. Kids just across the border in Brownsville, Texas, had laptops, high-speed Internet, and tutoring, while in Matamoros the students had intermittent electricity, few computers, limited Internet, and sometimes not enough to eat. "But you do have one thing that makes you the equal of any kid in the world," Juárez Correa said. He looked around the room. Paloma was silent, waiting to be told what to do. "So," Juárez Correa said, "what do you want to learn?" In 1999, Sugata Mitra was chief scientist at a company in New Delhi that trains software developers. Over the years, Mitra got more ambitious. Over the next 75 days, the children worked out how to use the computer and began to learn.
Hakitzu Elite: Robot Hackers Learning & Education – Future schools – Connected learning – Education technology ICT is significantly impacting how schools are organized and run. An Ericsson Networked Society report shows that introducing ICT in schools affects six principal areas including both physical space and behavioral aspects. Mikael Eriksson Björling, Expert on Consumer Behavior at ConsumerLab, says: “Learning and education are in a time of transformation. In conjunction with the report, Ericsson has also released a thought-provoking documentary titled “The Future of Learning”. Read the report Download the infographic
Bootstrap More holes in Sugata Mitra’s ‘Hole-in-Wall’ project “I wouldn’t take it if you offered it to me for free” said the head of the school I visited in the huge Katutura Township on the outskirts of Windhoek in Africa. In 2008 some guys turned up started to drill four holes in the wall, installed dial-up computers, and left explaining almost nothing. Within three months the project was dead. Internet access was intermittent and larger boys dominated the computers, playing games. At best a distraction, at worst, yet another failed and misguided idea imposed upon a community that was neither asked nor consulted. Today the four ugly, padlocked shutters are all that remain, just as we saw in my last report on the ‘hole-in-the-wall’ report in India. Hype cycle Of all the learning technology projects I’ve witnessed over the thirty years I’ve been in this field, this is the one that most closely matches the Gartner hype cycle. Self-defeating Project not effective Conclusion
School ditches rules and loses bullies - National News Published: 6:31AM Sunday January 26, 2014 Source: Fairfax Ripping up the playground rulebook is having incredible effects on children at an Auckland school. Chaos may reign at Swanson Primary School with children climbing trees, riding skateboards and playing bullrush during playtime, but surprisingly the students don't cause bedlam, the principal says. The school is actually seeing a drop in bullying, serious injuries and vandalism, while concentration levels in class are increasing. Principal Bruce McLachlan rid the school of playtime rules as part of a successful university experiment. "We want kids to be safe and to look after them, but we end up wrapping them in cotton wool when in fact they should be able to fall over." Letting children test themselves on a scooter during playtime could make them more aware of the dangers when getting behind the wheel of a car in high school, he said. "When you look at our playground it looks chaotic. "The kids were motivated, busy and engaged.
A School With No Teachers, Where Students Teach Themselves Big Ideas UTC Library/Flickr By Eleanor Beardsley, NPR A new computer school in Paris has been overwhelmed by some 60,000 applicants. The school, called 42, was founded by a telecom magnate who says the French education system is failing young people. In the hallways of 42, suitcases and sleeping bags are piled, and people are stretched out on mattresses in some of the corners. Living here for the next month are some of the 4,000 potential students who already made the first cut by passing cognitive skill tests online. Now they have to clear another hurdle. A Demand For Thinkers From Any Class “It’s very, very intensive,” Sadirac says. The only criteria for applying is to be between the ages of 18 and 30. Sadirac says they’re not looking for how much students know, but how they think. “We don’t want to teach them stuff. Youth unemployment in France is at a 14-year high. Niel, the creator of France’s third largest telecommunications company, Free, says the social elevator in France is broken.
Co to jest szkoła demokratyczna? cz.1 Szkoła demokratyczna – czyż połączenie tych dwóch słów nie wydaje się wam nieco szokujące? Większość z nas uczęszczała do tradycyjnej szkoły i gdyby przeprowadzić ankietę mało prawdopodobne, aby ktoś z nas określił ją takim właśnie przymiotnikiem. Jeśli przetłumaczymy słowa demokracja, jako „władza ludu” – to w kontekście szkolnym musimy uznać, że szkoła demokratyczna oznacza szkołę, w której „władzę” dzierży społeczność szkolna – nie sami nauczyciele, nie sami rodzice, ale głównie uczniowie! Brzmi nieprawdopodobnie? Spójrz inaczej na edukację Żeby zrozumieć, czym jest szkoła demokratyczna – musimy zmienić nasze tradycyjne pojmowanie słowa edukacja. Nie zapomnijmy też o regulującym wszystkiego programie ustalanym przez Ministerstwo Edukacji Narodowej. Jakie jest w tym wszystkim miejsce ucznia? Słyszeliście zasadę „zakuć, zdać, zapomnieć”? Szkoła uczy bezmyślnego wkuwania i podporządkowania się. Uczę się, bo muszę – nie mam czasu na rozwój Uczę się, bo chcę – szkoła demokratyczna
Sweden's Newest School System Has No Classrooms There’s a whole new classroom model and it’s a sight to behold. The newest school system in Sweden look more like the hallways of Google or Pixar and less like a brick-and-mortar school you’d typically see. There are collaboration zones, houses-within-houses, and a slew of other features that are designed to foster “curiosity and creativity.” That’s according to Vittra, which runs 30 schools in Sweden. Their most recent school, Telefonplan School (see photos below via Zilla Magazine) in Stockholm, could very well be the school of the future. Architect Rosan Bosch designed the school to encourage both independent and collaborative work such as group projects and PBL. The un-schoolness doesn’t stop with the furniture and layout though. Most of all, admission to the school is free as long as one of the child’s parents pays taxes in Sweden and the child has a ‘personal number’ which is like a social security number to our U.S. readers.