Boundless Possibilities

After viewing Sugata Mitra's TED Talk based on his project, "Hole in the Wall," I was awestruck by the creativity and adaptability displayed by the young students. By providing the children with the computers and an unstructured, open learning environment Mitra came upon solid evidence that so much is possible through the use of incidental learning. The joy and excitement on the faces of the children as they discovered new words, played vibrant games, and unlocked new methods of learning made my heart swell. Tears came to my eyes when Sugata gave the anecdote about a young girl who defined what a "nucleus" was, having had only been given information on Biology in a language she didn't speak! For a moment, I wondered how this project was not more widely cited in Education; I mean, how could it not be? Alas I remembered, the idea of allowing unstructured learning in a classroom is terrifying to many educators, as there are so many strenuous demands placed on teachers and students for successful test scores and furthered funding.

The students involved in the, "Hole in the Wall" experiment seemed to be glaring examples of the vast adaptability and creative thinking that resides within every child from birth. In a TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson, he ponders the idea that schools may be killing creativity, systematically stamping out unique thought. Ken touches on how there are many ways that a person can be intelligent based upon Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences, but as educators we only address and teach to the logical and linguistic aspects of those intelligences. As he puts it, "The consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think that they're not because the thing that they were good at at school wasn't valued or was actually stigmatized." Just like Isaac Asimov and Sugata Mitra have uncovered; Ken sees that there must be more room for creativity, dancing, drawing, singing, and doing in our classrooms. Without those things, we are doing our future a great injustice.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

I know that many of you may have already viewed this talk, but I have been so inspired by Ken over the last few years that I find myself watching it as a reminder every couple of months. He really believes in the unique beauty and talent in every person. If you're ever feeling downtrodden about your future as a teacher, just watch this!