Sugata Mitra's pedagogy strives to promote curiosity, experimentation, and self-directedness through the use of big questions, enthusiasm, and wonderment. In this way, Mitra strives to co-create situations in which education acts as a "self-organizing system" where learning becomes an emergent phenomenon. Through projects such as Hole in the Wall (1999), The Hyderabad Experiment (2002), and The Gateshead Experiment (2009), Mitra has implemented a method of engagement in which he introduces a new technology to a group of students, claims to not know how it works, and then leaves them to their own devices.
Over two decades after Sugata Mitra left his first Hole in the Wall computer in the hands of a group of young students, John Roderick hopped on Twitter and relayed the tale of how he taught his 9-year-old daughter to use a manual can opener in what I believed he saw was a similar teaching method to that of Mitra. Roderick's Tweets (colloquially known as #BeanDad) outlined how one day he told his daughter to make baked beans after she said she was hungry.
She asked "How?".
He said "Open the can and put them in a pot,".
"How?"
"With a can opener."
"How?"
A series of questions then followed, prompting the daughter to think about the parts of the can opener and how they were put together. But these questions only lead to frustration and the daughter expressing she no longer wanted the baked beans.
In response, #BeanDad told his daughter that neither he nor she would "eat another bite today until [they] get into [that] can of beans".
6 hours pass. She finally opens the can. #BeanDad tells us this is a lesson in perseverance. I think it's needlessly cruel.
While both Sugata Mitra and #BeanDad are creating lessons in exploration and problem-solving without adult guidance, the environments in which they conduct these lessons are at odds. Sugata Mitra lays out his experiments for a community of students who can provide educational and emotional support to one another. Mitra is also prompting the students to interact with a piece of technology that is there not out of necessity, but for their enrichment, and he has no expectations for what these students should be able to accomplish in a set amount of time.
On the contrary, #BeanDad conducts his teaching with only his daughter, making her unable to seek educational or emotional support from anyone but a father reluctant to give it for the sake of "teaching a lesson". #BeanDad coaxes his daughter into figuring out how to work a can opener under the threat of going without food, thus robbing her of the agency to decide when and how to engage.
The stark contrast between the social implications of Sugata Mitra and #BeanDad's educational practices highlights how critical safe environments are when facilitating self-guided explorations. Giving students access to others, opportunities to make joy, and the ability to step away are key ingredients to create enriching experiences with independence. Without that, they'd just be alone in their room, hitting a can with it's opener.
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Sugata Mitra, Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, England talks about his Hole in the Wall project. Young kids in this project figured out how to use a PC on their own — and then taught other kids. He asks, what else can children teach themselves?
Speaking at LIFT 2007, Sugata Mitra talks about his Hole in the Wall project. Young kids in this project figured out how to use a PC on their own -- and then taught other kids. He asks, what else can children teach themselves?
Q: If students and community participants really can teach themselves, what is the role of the teacher or someone leading a community workshop or event?
A: The role of an educator is one of modeling curiosity, engagement, and commitment to self-actualization. In this, we encourage students to value knowledge seeking and meaning making, suggesting that our roles as educators exist to assist students in self-educate. Students teaching themselves should be viewed as a pedagogical goal, not a career obstacle.
Q: Imagine using this idea in a community event. Describe how you would set up an experience like this at your internship or in another community setting.
A: When I was a kid, there was a playground game called "Johnny Whoop". I won't go into the specifics of how to play the game as to not spoil it, but I think teaching it to one kid at the beginning of class and noting how many students know it by the end would make for an incredible observation.
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