Envisioning the Possibilities- more of Sugata Mitra’s research about the self learning capabilities of children

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Envisioning the Possibilities- more of Sugata Mitra’s research about the self learning capabilities of children

September 21, 2010 by apurvadesai

In Sugata Mitra’s recent TED talk at TED Global 2010, he stated this unfortunate reality about education:

“There are places on Earth, in every country, where, for various reasons, good schools cannot be built and good teachers cannot or do not want to go…”

In my earlier post titled, Is this the Future of Learning in Large Urban Slums, I wrote about Mitra’s research and fascinating conclusions around how children, when exposed to computers without adult guidance, learned on their own. Very important results, because as Mitra states in the quote above, all around the world there are places where children don’t have access to schools and teachers. In this video below, Mitra delves more into his research around the world ranging from India to Italy—dramatic cases of children demonstrating quantifiable learning and improvement by simply having access to a computer. Take a look at the 20 minute video.

Now, here’s where the possibilities become so exciting to me. This video is of a young kid in India with no formal education, only educated in the streets hawking street faire. He shows remarkable knowhow- able to sell his goods in at least 7 languages including Chinese, Arabic, German, Hebrew, and Spanish. Amazing potential. Just think what he could do if he had regular access to the Internet and a computer, even without teachers!