Concerned about education? Observe children. They can lead the way.
More and more educators are taking the approach Sugata Mitra tried when he put computers in the slums of India and watched children teach themselves.
Joshua Davis writes at Wired about another success story in an impoverished part of Mexico.
For 12-year-old Paloma Noyola Bueno, who grew up next to a garbage dump where her father scavenged for a living, school was a bright spot, even when it was all rote memorization. …
“As she headed into fifth grade,” writes Davis, “she assumed she was in for more of the same—lectures, memorization, and busy work. Sergio Juárez Correa was used to teaching that kind of class. …
“On August 21, 2011—the start of the school year — he walked into his classroom and pulled the battered wooden desks into small groups. When Paloma and the other students filed in, they looked confused. Juárez Correa invited them to take a seat and then sat down with them. …
” ‘You do have one thing that makes you the equal of any kid in the world,’ Juárez Correa said. ‘Potential. … And from now on,’ he told them, ‘we’re going to use that potential to make you the best students in the world.’ ”
And so began his effort to teach differently, to help children discover they could think for themselves.
It’s a long article but worth reading to understand the approach that led to a transformed class — with exceptional test results as a sort of minor spinoff.
Photo: Peter Yang
These students in Matamoros, Mexico, didn’t have reliable Internet access, steady electricity, or much hope—until a radical new teaching method unlocked their potential.
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