The ninth SOLE (self-organized learning environment) research lab has been opened. Professor Sugata Mitra opened the SOLE in one corner of a rural school’s playground in Dasghara, near Kolkata in West Bengal.
SOLEs were inspired by the notion that if children have access to the internet they can teach themselves. Professor Sugata Mitra came up with the idea when he put a computer in a hole in the wall in India. Soon curious young children from the slums approached the machine and within days had taught themselves how to use it.
This approach is particularly relevant for children who otherwise don’t have access to education who can then teach themselves, but it also has implications for every school system in the world.
Education systems around the world haven’t come to terms with the fact that today’s youth are growing up with the internet and realistically are always going to have access to it. So why don’t we embrace it and stop focusing on examinations which don’t allow students to utilize the opportunities the internet presents?
The approach of SOLEs can be revolutionary for classrooms the world over, where groups of children are given a big question and are left to use the internet and work together to solve it.
Find out how to incorporate this innovative and forward-thinking approach into your school by heading over to the SOLE innovation page.
