[IAEP] Sugata Mitra at TED 2013

[James Simmons]

I watched this on my TV last night. Smart TVs and devices like the Sony Net
Player have a channel that lets you watch any TED talk, and that's how I
watched it.  One thing I remember is that Mitra did think a teacher was
necessary to pose problems to the students.  He suggested asking a student
how to tell if an asteroid was going to hit the Earth and suggesting that
knowing the tangent of an angle might be part of the solution.

I have a niece (in the sense that I am a friend of her father) who went to
the Illinois Math And Science Academy.  Her father kept complaining that
"the teachers don't teach!", and I think their methods are a bit like Mitra
is suggesting.

I have to agree with Mitra that current education is preparing kids for a
world that doesn't exist anymore.

I also thought the conclusion of his speech was just about perfect.

James Simmons

On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 6:26 AM, Nicholas Doiron <ndoiron at mapmeld.com>wrote:

> I watched this video with some of the OLPC team at the Ministry of
> Education, Marshall Islands.  As you might imagine, the video was
> enlightening but somewhat threatening.  A speech saying the education
> system is obsolete!  Students using computers without anyone deciding what
> they should learn!
>
> In the US, similar ideas led to the unschooling<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling>movement. There are a lot of smart kids and great programs, but I saw one
> interview where a parent argued that if their kids needed algebra, they
> would read about it and learn. How will they recognize an algebra problem
> when they see it (for example, the parabola of a flying baseball)? How will
> they know that it can be calculated at all?
>
> When you're talking about implementing this in a school, that's a big risk
> for the principal and teachers to take. I want to make room for open-ended
> student-led research - like the DNA reading, the electrons project - in a
> standard classroom.  Computers are making this possible for younger
> students. But I'm wary of telling teachers that students are going to learn
> best while they're on their own.
>
> --
> Nick Doiron
> San Francisco, CA
>
>
> On Sun, Mar 10, 2013 at 12:07 PM, Yoshiki Ohshima <Yoshiki.Ohshima at acm.org
> > wrote:
>
>> On Sat, Mar 9, 2013 at 11:24 PM, Dominik Granada <dgranada at frks.pl>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > Arthur Benjamin says: teach statistics before calculus (check on TED) -
>> cant
>> > paste link now
>> >
>> > Free and democratic schools experience indicates that strong testing and
>> > guidance understood traditionally are at least .... obsolete.
>> >
>> > and btw children in free schools learn calculus when they see the need
>> for
>> > it
>>
>> I should have written: children won't "invent" calculus.  (A big
>> mistake, sorry about it.)  As Walter wrote, that was what it meant.
>> If you want to learn about the context of that statement, you can
>> Google for it.
>>
>> Because calculus (and statistics, sure) is so cool that I'd hope that
>> children learn it.  If a child is in the project-based learning
>> setting, I sure hope that he takes on a project that does give him a
>> reason to learn it.  If it is solely based on the "need" for it,
>> however, surely most people are not going to need to learn calculus or
>> statistics.
>>
>> > cheers DG
>> >
>> > Yoshiki Ohshima <Yoshiki.Ohshima at acm.org> napisał:
>> >>
>> >> On Sat, Mar 9, 2013 at 10:12 AM, Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> Hi,
>> >>>
>> >>> When I was teaching I had a saying usually attributed to Confucius
>> >>> (carefully hand drawn in calligraphy… no computers available to print
>> it
>> >>> then) and hung above the chalkboard (old technology). It was my motto
>> for
>> >>> teaching:
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand."
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> It may have been first said 2500 years ago, but I believe it is still
>> >>> valid
>> >>> today. That is why I do what I do!
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Invoking proverbs is fun as you can always find the one that argues
>> >> for the other way.
>> >>
>> >> The above one probably was a somewhat liberal translation of what
>> >> Xunzi (荀子) wrot
>> >>  e.  But
>> >> one other thing Confucius said was:
>> >> "學而不思則罔、思而不學則殆", for which I found an English translation: "If you
>> >> learn without thinking, you cannot understand truly. If you think
>> >> without learning, you will be self-righteous."  (I might translate the
>> >> last word to "dangerous", as it is closer to the original meaning.)
>> >>
>> >> Alan Kay often says: Children won't discover calculus on their own.
>> >>
>> >> Doing is important, but in the learning process good checking system
>> >> and guidance is essential.  The above quote should be taken as "in
>> >> addition to hearing and seeing, you should do things".
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> -- Yoshiki
>> >> ________________________________
>> >>
>> >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>> >> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Wysłane z telefonu.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> -- Yoshiki
>> _______________________________________________
>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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