My reflections this week have been around providing opportunities to students and children, opportunities to experience things they may not encounter otherwise. The links below all highlight a slightly different angle of this idea.
First a link to a clip from Ted Talks, about the ‘hole in the wall’ study by Sugatra Mitra. His study began with providing a computer in a wall of slums in India. What the children (who would not have had this experience otherwise) learned was amazing, and then they taught others too. How this study has grown is also very interesting and the end use of Skype to form the ‘granny cloud’ is such a great way to give the children new and different learning opportunities.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html
Second is more of a science example, but also highlights how things like You-Tube can be used to really expose children to complex educational experiences. This is really well scripted and enables each option t be explored by kids and repeated as necessary for them to test their developing understanding. When I showed this to my son, LT, he wanted to then go and test other things in our house. So we set up a big pyrex bowl and tested lots of things, he even developed a table and drew pictures to record his hypothesis. Another bonus was that he now can use the word ‘hypothesis’ confidently and correctly, all because he has had this experience that was tied to language. http://johnp.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/sesame-street-science-sink-or-float-an-interactive-youtube-experience/
And third is one I read this morning, from i-mum, talking about how our children take up technology around them: http://www.theimum.com/2011/09/article-raising-the-igeneration/#comment-106. I am a great believer in allowing our children a range of opportunities and encouraging them to do what they enjoy. Technology part of a broad life landscape that we can’t ignore. There is a lot of rubbish out there too, but finding the best and most valuable games, apps and clips can actually be used to our (and our children’s) advantage.
Whether it is having access to some sort of technology they wouldn’t have had, access to ideas they may not have experienced, or having a guided experience with an adult to learn how to use something new, there are many educational opportunities we, as parents and teachers, can provide for our children. What are some of your favourite educational clips, apps or games?
Until next week
Happy Learning!
Fiona
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