What a curious title, isn’t it? Child-driven education… It seems almost impossible for many of us. But not for Dr. Sugata Mitra, an education scientist who made an interesting experiment called “Hole in the Wall”. In this hole he installed a computer with an active internet connection. Afterwards, the unschooled Indian children living in that low district started… browsing, playing games, google-ing and so on. Before that, they knew nothing about computers!!! For more details and an appealing speech, follow this link.
One of the main ideas of Dr. Mitra’s research is that “in the absence of supervision or formal teaching, children can teach themselves and each other, if they're motivated by curiosity.”
Curiosity – this is the nucleus of child-driven education. You can give your child anything: a computer, a book, or some new toys. If he is motivated enough, if he is curious enough about them, he will definitely learn how to use any of those objects. And here, the important aspect is not to use, but to learn.
Children can learn all sorts of things by themselves. They always did! Parents and teachers can guide them, but the fact is that it is preferable for them not to abusively invert in the process of education. We have to let our children some space, to let them express and experience their curiosity. This, indeed, can make the little ones progress in an unexpected and tremendous manner.
The idea is that your child must independently find the answer to the things that he is curious about. He must address questions and answer them by himself. You do not necessarily have to give him the answer. Amazingly, he is capable of finding it without any help from anyone.
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