Science and Engineering: Innovation, Research, Education and Economics
October 2, 2006
What Kids can Learn

This is a fascinating interview discussing what children can learn if given a computer and little, if any, instruction. Very Cool. Links on the progress since this interview are at the end of the post.

Q: This is your concept of minimally invasive education?

A: Yes. It started out as a joke but I’ve kept using the term … This is a system of education where you assume that children know how to put two and two together on their own. So you stand aside and intervene only if you see them going in a direction that might lead into a blind alley.

The interview explores what happened when:

Mitra simply left the computer on, connected to the Internet, and allowed any passerby to play with it. He monitored activity on the PC using a remote computer and a video camera mounted in a nearby tree.

What he discovered was that the most avid users of the machine were ghetto kids aged 6 to 12, most of whom have only the most rudimentary education and little knowledge of English. Yet within days, the kids had taught themselves to draw on the computer and to browse the Net. Some of the other things they learned, Mitra says, astonished him.

Q: What else have you learned?

A: Well, I tried another experiment. I went to a middle-class school and chose some ninth graders, two girls and two boys. I called their physics teacher in and asked him, “What are you going to teach these children next year at this time?” He mentioned viscosity. I asked him to write down five possible exam questions on the subject. I then took the four children and said, “Look here guys. I have a little problem for you.” They read the questions and said they didn’t understand them, it was Greek to them. So I said, “Here’s a terminal. I’ll give you two hours to find the answers.”

Then I did my usual thing: I closed the door and went off somewhere else.

They answered all five questions in two hours. The physics teacher checked the answers, and they were correct. That, of itself, doesn’t mean much. But I said to him, “Talk to the children and find out if they really learned something about this subject.” So he spent half an hour talking to them. He came out and said, “They don’t know everything about this subject or everything I would teach them. But they do know one hell of a lot about it. And they know a couple of things about it I didn’t know.”

I would think some might object to the fact that such conditions exist. But they do for millions of kids today.

I’m not even going to suggest that we use this [technique] for adults. The only reaction we got from adults was, “What on earth is this for? Why is there no one here to teach us something? How are we ever going to use this?” I contend that by the time we are 16, we are taught to want teachers, taught that we cannot learn anything without teachers.

And I think we can all learn some ideas from this experiment that could be useful.

My favorite charity is Trickle Up. If you want to do something to change the conditions for many who don’t have access to this blog I recommend it.

Related: PBS Frontline story - Hole in the Wall Foundation - A ‘hole in the wall’ helps educate India - The Hole-In-The-Wall 2003 study - Appropriate Technology - Water and Electricity for all

6 Responses to “What Kids can Learn”

  1. $100 Laptop Update Says:

    [...] “It has built-in wireless networking and video conferencing so that groups of children can work together. The project is also working to ensure that children using the laptop around the world can be in contact.” [...]

  2. CuriousCat: One Laptop Per Child - Give One Get One Says:

    We mentioned the Give One Get One program last month - you can buy one for yourself with the purchase of one for a child in the developing world. The cost is $400, $200 qualifies as a charitable deduction (the gift for the child).

  3. Shaping Youth » One Laptop Per Child: Give One, Get One Goin’ Fast! Says:

    “between ‘what kids can learn’ on this gizmo and the ‘Trickle up.org’ factor of taking the first steps out of poverty by using media for positive change, regardless of who ends up with the green machine, I’m in…”

  4. CuriousCat: A Child's View of the OLPC Laptop Says:

    “Rufus does not have an opinion about that controversy, but he does have a verdict on the laptop. “It’s great,” he says…”

  5. Curious Cat: Make the World Better Says:

    donate using the widget displayed in this post: to William Kamkwamba who built his own windmill in Malawi to get electricity for his home…

  6. Curious Cat » Sarah, aged 3, Learns About Soap Says:

    I remember such discussions with Dad (Chemical Engineering professor). The only danger I saw was him getting tied of -why? (when I was older)…

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