Sugata Mitra

In Sugata Mitra's Ted Talk "Build a School in the Cloud," he makes a claim that the education system as it is today is not broken, but instead, it is obsolete. Mitra explains that the modern education system was created during the British Empire when it was necessary to educate people from all over the world to be able to read, write with good handwriting, and do basic mental math in order to be productive in the workforce. At the time, the education system was very successful at preparing people to join the workforce and successfully complete tasks required of them. Today, however, those same skills aren't necessary to be successful in life. 

With this notion that the current education system is obsolete, Mitra went on to research how children learn. He found that children in remote areas of India who did not speak English or know how to use a computer were able to learn how to use an English-operated computer without outside instruction. He also found that they were able to learn about advanced topics, in English, on the computer without any outside help. Mitra realized that what allowed the students to be successful in their learning was that students were able to learn on their own, all they needed was someone to ask a question or initiate the learning, and positive encouragement as they move through the process of learning independently. He called this a "self-organized learning environment."

Mitra said his dream for a school was a "school in the cloud" because he imagined a school in which students could learn on their own completely independently, using technology as a tool to assist them in their learning, with only one person in charge of setting the learning forward. 

His ideas about self-organized learning environments really resonated with me because I feel he was able to put into words the type of classroom I have been trying to cultivate. This idea is very aligned with inquiry-based learning, which is an increasingly common style of teaching, especially in science. In effective inquiry-based learning in science, the teacher presents some sort of anchoring science phenomena and then introduced a meaning-making question around that phenomena. Over the course of an NGSS-aligned lesson, students should follow the steps of a 5-E lesson (engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate), and at the end should be able to create some sort of model that allows them to answer the original meaning-making question. I think something Mitra made me realize is that the internet can be a profound tool to help, not hinder, student learning. Throughout this past year, I was extremely hesitant to let students use the internet to find information when we were going through a lesson. I realize now that I was actually hindering their exploration. I can't expect my students to be able to explore new topics if I am taking the tires off of their bicycles. Instead, I should focus on giving them some training wheels for how to use the internet, and allow them to go on and learn in the way that is most authentic to them.

Something key that Mitra brought up that I realized I had been missing in my inquiry-based lesson plans was a sixth E: encouragement! I loved his idea of using a "Granny" as a facilitator and an encourager- someone to be impressed with student learning and give them praise, rather than someone who is punishing them for not finding the right answer. 

Mitra's use of "Grannies" as learning facilitators also reminded me of Mike Wesch's fundamental ideas about how people learn. Wesch says that learning happens when we are able to ask meaningful questions, make human connections, and have enough love for ourselves that we can try again when we face failure. To me, this sounds exactly like Mitra's ideal classroom: you start with a question, you allow students to make connections with each other to work together, and with the help and encouragement of some Grannies, they can gain the confidence to try again when they face failure.

(A picture of my own Grandma, who is always encouraging me!)