Can We Teach Ourselves? Sugata Mitra and Minimally Invasive Education.

And can children teach themselves? This is a question that Sugata Mitra, a professor and scientist set out to answer based on the following premise (via TedTalksDirector):

There are places on earth, in every country, where, for various reasons, good schools cannot be built and good teachers cannot or do not want to go.

In this video from Ted, Sugata Mitra describes a series of "Hole-in-the-Wall" experiments where he tested his theories of Minimally Invasive Education. The tests were done in areas the satisfy the premise above and include parts of India, South Africa, and Italy. Children were given access to computers with high-speed Internet and filmed to determine how they interacted with the system and what they learned. The results challenge a lot of the basic tenets of the western education process and may reinforce the value of E-learning in places where Sugata's premise does not apply. It seems that children can teach themselves and each other if they are motivated by curiosity and peer interest. More from Ted on why this video is worth watching.

How good are you at teaching yourself?

Do you think such a program would work in your city?