This may be about 6 years old but it should be required watching if you stand in front of students, K-PSE (post-secondary education). I’ve seen the video several times and always take away something new.
With his ground-breaking social experiments, Sugata shows us how students respond when presented with a computer, a broadband connection, and each other to learn with.
You can watch the full version here. If you don’t have the 20 minutes to watch the full version today, you can start (but watch the full version eventually) with this 5 minute edit. Thanks to Sean Heuchert for provided us with this edited version. Also, thanks to Sean for his incites as to the main messages in Sugata’s video:
- “Digital Natives” will just walk up to a computer and start playing, even kids who don’t speak English.
- Children will teach each other in groups if given the freedom to do so.
- Sometimes the best thing a teacher can do for student learning is just to get out of the way.
I’d just like to add that Sugata’s experiments also show the same results can be achieved regardless of things like primary language, Socio-Economic Status, Country, Origin, age, and gender. Initially, the students ‘learned computers,’ but eventually, as the experiments became more deliberate and intentional, the students learned whatever they wanted! And, I believe most importantly, they learned the ability to deal with an increasingly complex and connected world.
If you liked what you read and saw, a good follow up article to read is available here.
Happy viewing!
The Technoliterate 