Sugata Mitra - Build a School in the Cloud

Another fabulous gem thru the PIDP 3250 discussion forum, thanks Julia.  I just finished watching a video of Sugata Mitra who speaks about his experiments with children and the remarkable results that developed when children teach themselves.  His "hole in the wall" computers gave children with no knowledge of the English language or computers, unlimited access to a computer.  In two months these children in poverty stricken and remote environments had acquired knowledge equal to wealthy children with access to mainstream education and teachers.  These children had first taught themselves English, then learned and taught each other various ambitiously difficult topics.

To let this kind of learning happen, takes a instructor who is willing to take a step back and allow the students to take control.  The instructor may prose the question but from there the students will carry out the learning process themselves.  I am keen to try this approach and can see it working well with the Anatomy and Physiology aspects of Esthetics.  Students would be asked to chose a body system and teach the class how that system interacts with the skin.  They are free to learn anyway they wish and present their lesson in class time.  Class time could also be used to look at skin cross sections under a microscope and in depth discussion on how systems in the body work together. 

I have included the link to Mr Sugata Mitra's TED talk for viewing and a link to his
SOLE - Self-Organised Learning Environment.   

http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_build_a_school_in_the_cloud