Additonal Assignment #2

1. What do you think? If learners are motivated, can they teach themselves? Yes, I think anyone that is willing to learn has the ability to do so. The video pretty much proves this fact as well.
2. If those motivated learners are kids, can they teach themselves? I think kids can teach themselves up to a certain extent. In the end of the video scientist Sugata Mitra went to a school in Turin Italy and visited a classroom full of kids who couldn’t speak English. Surprisingly the students answered all of Sugata’s questions, but if he wasn’t in front of the classroom addressing these questions most likely the students would have never planned to research such things. What I’m getting at is yes, students can teach themselves, but in my opinion they still need guidance.
3. What conditions are necessary for kids to teach themselves? For anyone to teach him or herself? Well for starters kids definitely need the right tools to teach themselves, such as the computers Sugata placed in the walls. I think a computer is a very important tool for the future education of children.
4. What role do computers and internet access play in the process? Computers with internet access play a huge role in education. Computers can give the children endless amounts of knowledge they are willing to learn.
5. What role does motivation, a desire to learn? Motivation also plays a big role in learning. Without someone to motivate the children there may be no desire to learn at all. As for older people trying to teach themselves something they must motivate themselves to learn, which may be more difficult.
6. What roles do a problem, a question or multiple problems or questions play in the process? Well without questions there are no answers. As I said before, if it wasn’t for Sugata writing questions on the board for the students to research then they would have probably never been interested to look up the subject themselves.
7. How do you motivate someone to learn? Encourage the students to find the right answer and reward them with positive gratitude.
8. How are you motivated to learn? I am motivated to learn so I can get my degree and start my life with a good career.
9. Can anyone who is not motivated to learn learn? I think they can learn, but it will be a difficult process for them and whoever is trying to teach them.
10. Do you teach yourself? When? Why? I do teach myself, especially in this class! I have gained a lot from this class thus far, so maybe teaching yourself isn’t so bad, but I still have Dr. Strange guiding me through most things.
11. What role does a teacher (either answer generally or use a specific example) play in your learning? As a child in elementary school the roles of my teachers were to teach me the important basics and fundamentals of life. Then vs. now is a whole different story, there is no one holding my hang along the way saying okay if you do good in class you get to pick out of the treasure chest at the end of the week. Now as a college student I must motivate myself to do my work and continue to go to school, my teachers could careless if I didn’t show up for a test. I’d say my teachers in college are here to guide me to freedom(my diploma). They give me the information I need to learn and if I choose to learn it or not that is up to me.
12. What is the most important idea, question or emotional response you take away with you as a result of watching this video? It was nice to see how the children responded to Sugata Mitra videos. I think the most important fact to take from this is that any child has the ability to learn if they are given the right tools to work with. Even these children from poor countries, that the teachers are not willing to go, were excited about learning!
13. What other questions or issues are raised by this video that should be considered and discussed by aspiring teachers? I think something amazing that was brought up in the video was “SOLE” which is self organized learning environments. It showed a room with a large screen and a computer, the room was big enough for a group of people. These classrooms could come in very great use around the world for countries that are less fortunate to have great teachers. With SOLE they could have class with teachers around the world and it would be if the teacher was actually there with the children.