In the Ted Talk Sugata Mitra: The Child-Driven Education, Mitra talks about various experiments he has set up in various parts of India. These experiments involving the use of computers by the children of India. Many strong points were made, one of which, really stands out out of all of them. Computers could revolutionize the way children learn today, especially in places where teachers are needed most. Places where good teachers won't go. Children who are inquisitive enough will become self sufficient in their own learning. I believe that Sugata Mitra's thoughts on revolutionizing children's education are valid because children will learn about what they are interested in, little background knowledge is needed with computers to figure out how to use them, and the results of these experiments proved to be extremely progressive for education in India.
It is difficult to teach someone something if they are not willing to learn it. Today, we find this to be one big offense in education. Learning must be met half way in order to attain the knowledge. With the experiments in India, Mitra placed the first computer in a wall in the slums of New Delhi, India. The children who lived there began to use it, and quickly figured out how it worked. This just goes to prove that children will learn if they are truly intrigued by something. These children have aspiration because good education was never an option for them. It is new and interesting to them, and they enjoy gaining knowledge on what they are interested in.
Another point to be made, is that these children have picked up on using computers remarkably fast. In as little as two months, these children had already figured out how to download games from Disney.com. In another ex...
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...ably close to the neutral British accent in which I had trained the speech-to-text synthesizer." This passage can only lead us to believe that, somewhere down the road, they could teach themselves other languages. The possibilities are endless.
In conclusion, this revolutionized system would rely on one of many things. This would be a self organized system. These children have been independently studying without teachers, and have learned so much so far. Having a self organized system, and they use of emergence, can inevitably lead to one of Sugata's strongest points. "Education is a self organizing system, where learning is an emergent phenomenon." This is exactly the kind of education these kids have demonstrated over the years of experimentation. Mitra's experiment was a huge success, and it wouldn't be a surprise if his idea of an education revolution spreads.
An educational system should not control its students’ minds; instead, it should be arranged in a way that builds the students’ success with a goal to lead a person to conquer his/her purposes.
David Gelernter author of the essay, “Unplugged: The Myth of Computers in the Classroom,” used some rhetorical appeals but not many in his essay, whilst trying to logically persuade his audience that computers could be utilized in the classroom, but under certain stipulations. Gelernter has great credibility for speaking on education and technology, as he is a professor of computer science at Yale University, so he more than anyone should know the outcomes of using a computer as a tool while teaching. However, when it comes to technology a lot of older generations usually are pretty biased when discussing technologies advancements, Gelernter still had some very good points! Using computers while teaching our young children can be useful but with strict moderations; when, where, and why, because if not heavily monitored, computers could be extremely detrimental to the learning experience and processes for many students.
the reason why they are learning something, then they will get a greater sense of the
Educators attempt to change that system to make it better, but their change was not that great as an example for the world. Also, did that change qualify education systems to compete with other systems or not? Some examples and reasons have made me agree with some of the points from Gatto’s and Edmunson’s and disagree with them. John Taylor Gatto, in his essay “Against School: How Public Education Cripples our Kids, and why,” argues that the contemporary purpose of education in public schools is to produce “harmless electorate,” “a servile labor force,” and “mindless consumers” (28). According to Gatto, he is blaming public schools for claiming that the purpose of education is to shape students to certain expectations and habits without their interests.
Computers can also capture and hold a child’s interest like no other learning tool. Consider, for example, NASA’s recent Mars landing and exploration. It is now possible for an elementary classroom to log on and follow events like these as they unfold - they are witnessing and experiencing a national event as it is occurring. There is no doubt that without technology, an event such as this would not be nearly as interesting or appealing as say, following it in the newspaper.
In today’s society, we are overwhelmed with technology. Technology is changing everyday, and will forever be a staple in our lives. The effect that technology has on our children has brought some concerns and some praise. Children these days have no choice but to somehow be influenced by the ever growing technology in our society. Our common concern has been that although digital technology has boosted children’s ability to multitask, their ability to process information deeply may be deteriorating (Carpenter, 2010).
Robert Hardingham, PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER: building healthy communities for our most vulnerable generation, Australian Journal of Middle Schooling, vol l, no 1, May 2001.
Subrahmanyam, K. (2000). The Impact of Home Computer Use on Children’s Activities and Development: The Future of Children and Computer Technology, 10(2), 123-143. Retrieved from http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/Web/People/kraut/RKraut.site.files/articles/subrahmanyam00-Compute%26kids.pdf
To continue, everyone can agree that children need a healthy environment to develop cognitive, social, emotional, physical and linguistic development. How much technology can improve or distract from these essential skills varies with age. The impact and implications of technology tools on young children has been studied and researched through the Let’s Move Childcare initiative and results concluded that little to no “screen time” is preferred for children under the age of two. For children two years or older, the recommended “screen time” is limited to thirty minutes per week in the classroom setting. (White House, 2011.)
...ity to predict consequences, manipulating different symbols in the world they represent, making successful transfers and performances in real life situations. However, the negative aspects and effects of technology often lead to problems that affect children’s learning and growing process, including short attention spans, poor academic performances and social skills, and health risks. These negative effects lead to greater chances for children to suffer from psychological disorders and possible illnesses. In order to solve these problems, parents and teacher need to set up guidelines and make necessary adjustments to minimize the negative effects of technology. As children learn to manage and balance their time between technology and other activities, they will become more successful in the future and more prepared the children to thrive in this world of technology.
This article addresses how the internet and use of computers is in all aspects of our life directly or indirectly. The many ways technology can be used can help enhance the creativity in our children’s lives. As children participate more and more on technology, which now includes
Children in elementary school should not be doing rigorous work on computers they are much to young for that they should be doing this work with paper and pencil. Even once they get home their reward for most of them that I have experienced is on they get home it is TV, video game, little computer games or just time on their cell
Andy Carvin states “ internet access in schools isn’t worth a hill of beans if teachers aren’t prepared to take full advantage of technology” (2000). Schools spend a lot of money on computer hardware and software as well as other technologies without realizing that many of their employees are unprepared to include them in their teaching and use them to their advantages. Educators often use technology as a classroom management tool rather than an educational one, allowing computer time as a reward for good behavior (Clark & Gorski, 2001). The problem with this is that students learn to use the computer for games and such because it is their reward instead of using it on their own time for educational purposes. This is teaching them the wrong idea. Margaret Honey, director of the Center for Children and Technology in NYC said it best, “The bottom line is, you don’t just put technology into schools or into homes and expect miracles to happen. The technology is only as good as the program that surrounds it” (Meyer, 2002, p.2).
place to stress out. As I walk through the halls all students seem to have that
As you can see the future for the education world is bright. There are many developments to make education more efficient, simpler, and equal for all from