Random thoughts on the Hole in the Wall experiment:
The idea of using computers to teach children without teachers seems at the same time simple and radical. Obvious and yet profound in its ability to change our thinking about how education happens. I am intrigued by the notion that "any teacher who can be replaced by a machine, should be" and aware of the defensiveness and fear that brings up for some.
Last week I was sharing my excitement about IXL math with a teacher I didn't know well. Her negative reaction startled me. She believes that her students need her guidance and stopped just short of saying that internet-based self-paced instruction was immoral.
I am pleased that the Hole in the Wall experiment showed no correlation between demographics, poverty or intelligence on children's ability to learn on their own in groups, using a computer. I believe that children have always self-organized and learned in groups--my childhood experience of creating dramatic plays performed for the neighborhood, creating small businesses to sell snacks and lemonade seem to be good examples. We made up games with extensive sets of rules. Curious about what that childhood might have been like if a computer had been placed in a wall in my working class neighborhood in Chicago. My little friends and I may have had completely different lives.
Wow...very well said. I'm intrigued by your teacher's reaction to the IXL program. I'll be interested how your tech interest begins to turn the tide with some of your teachers. Have you shared much with them what you're doing in this class?
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