Huffington Magazine Issue 39 | Page 32

and evolution, discovering the five bones holding the web on the first amphibians’ fins, and studying geometry. Their investigation resulted in this final answer: The strongest web that can be stretched the widest must have five supports. Now, I launch my SOLE toolkit — designed to empower teacher and parents to create their own spaces for sparking children’s curiosity and agency. My team and I are excited to see more educators trying this future-oriented pedagogical tool on for size and then sharing their learnings are insights so we can all benefit from the hive mind. Meanwhile, with my newly bestowed TED Prize, my team and I will build The School in the Cloud, a learning lab in India where children can embark on intellectual adventures by engaging and connecting with information and mentoring online. Technology, architecture, creative, and educational partners will help us design and build it. MORE ON TED WEEKENDS WHAT IS THE INTERNET DOING TO OUR MEMORY? HUFFINGTON 03.10.13 SUGATA MITRA Voices WHEN THE STUDENT BECOMES THE TEACHER Kids will help us explore a range of cloud-based, scalable approaches to self-directed learning. A global network of educators and retired teachers will support and engage the children through the web. We need a curriculum of big questions, examinations where children can talk, share and use the Internet, and new, peer assessment systems. We need children from a range of economic and geographic backgrounds and an army of visionary educators. We need a pedagogy free from fear and focused on the magic of children’s innate quest for information and understanding. In the networked age, we need schools, not structured like factories, but like clouds. Join us up there. Sugata Mitra is the winner of the 2013 TED Prize. A selection of the week’s related blogs HEADLINES TO VIEW BLOGS ABOUT THIS WEEK’S THEME HOLE IN THE WALL LEARNING FIRE IN THE CLOUDS THE FEAR OF ‘I DON’T KNOW’