Huffington Magazine Issue 39 | Page 31

COURTESY OF HOLE-IN-THE-WALL EDUCATION LIMITED Voices now we need to use it to spark the imaginations and build the mental muscles of children worldwide. This journey, for me, began back in 1999, when I conducted an experiment called the “hole in the wall.” By installing internetequipped computers in poor Indian villages and then watching how children interacted with them, unmediated, I first glimpsed the power of the cloud. Groups of street children learned to use computers and the internet by themselves, with little or no knowledge of English and never having seen a computer before. Then they started instinctually teaching one another. In the next five years, through many experiments, I learned just how powerful adults can be when they give small groups of children the tools and the agency to guide their own learning SUGATA MITRA HUFFINGTON 03.10.13 In the networked age, we need schools, not structured like factories, but like clouds.” and then get out of the way. It’s not just poor kids that can benefit from access to the Internet and the space and time to wonder and wander. Today, teachers around the world are using what I call “SOLEs,” “self organized learning environments,” where children group around internetequipped computers to discuss big questions. The teacher merges into the background and observe as learning happens. I once asked a group of 10-yearolds in the little town of Villa Mercedes in Argentina: Why do we have five fingers and toes on each limb? What’s so special about five? Their answer may surprise you. The children arrived at their answer by investigating both theology A hole-inthe-wall learning station in Changjiji, Thimpu, Bhutan, in 2009.