In the cover story for Wired magazine naming the next Steve Jobs,
Joshua Davis, the author, cites the importance of exploring and problem
solving independently. Many parents encourage their children when they
are very young to play and freely explore the world around them, but
once they start elementary school the separation begins. It is as if the
age of free play and discovery ends with a child's first steps and
ability to use the bathroom. Playing and exploring take a back seat to
"learning" and "studying." This
Wired article underlines how
important exploration is as children grow older and older. Given a
computer and little instruction, a group of children were able to self
organize and in a structured manner learn how to use it. In this way
they let their formal education be a supplement to their natural
creativity and need to explore. This is not to say that running around
in a field or trips to the zoo should replace biology classes or that teachers should be replaced with
iPads and computers. The key is finding a way to help young students use
both the tools they are given through traditional methods of learning
such as memorization and repetition, and their own creativity. For teachers the importance is in being able to recognize and foster a child's creativity by having the patience and restraint to know when to step back and let them become their own teacher.
-Magdalena S. Palencia
How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses
"Over the next 75 days, the children worked out how to use the computer
and began to learn. When Mitra returned, he administered a written test
on molecular biology. The kids answered about one in four questions
correctly. After another 75 days, with the encouragement of a friendly
local, they were getting every other question right. “If you put a
computer in front of children and remove all other adult restrictions,
they will self-organize around it,” Mitra says, “like bees around a
flower.”"
Read the rest of this incredible article at Wired.com http://www.wired.com/business/2013/10/free-thinkers
