Friday, October 15, 2010

Additional Assignment 2

TED speaker
1. What do you think? If learners are motivated, can they teach themselves?

Yes, I believe if they have a desire to learn, they would be able to teach themselves a lot of things.

2. If those motivated learners are kids, can they teach themselves?

Like the video shows, these children had just received a computer and they were already being able to assemble a video to record things. Also, the children figured out a way to record their own music and listen to it. I believe that it the children want to learn something, they will work their hardest to figure it out.

3. What conditions are necessary for kids to teach themselves? For anyone to teach him or herself?

You have to have a desire to learn. You have to want to know more and want to educate yourself.

4. What role do computers and internet access play in the process?

As Sugata Mitra said, “If teachers could be replaced by computers, they should be.” After doing all of his experiments, he found that if children were interested, then learning takes place. For all these children, having an internet gives them a chance to browse and look through all the things that interest them so learning does happen.

5. What role does motivation, a desire to learn?

It plays a huge role. Without the desire to learn, you would not even want to teach yourself so learning would never happen.

6. What roles do a problem, a question or multiple problems or questions play in the process?

I think that it just makes it that much more interesting. If you run across a problem and you’re truly interested in a subject, I believe you would be more inclined to try to fix it and figure out what is wrong. Asking questions is always a good thing in my opinion. If you are asking questions, you are curious and you want to know more.

7. How do you motivate someone to learn?

I think the only way you can motivate someone is by encouraging them to take an interest in it. If they are not encouraged, and they do not find it interesting, all you can do, as a teacher, is try to make it more interesting to them.

8. How are you motivated to learn?

I am curious to know more about things I am interested in. When I was a child, my interests were more like animals and nature, and I did everything I could to try to know all that I could about these subjects. Now, even though my interests are different, I still have the desire to learn more.

9. Can anyone who is not motivated to learn learn?

Yes, I still think they may be able to learn, but I do not believe they will be able to teach themselves. If they have no desire to learn, they will not learn. They have to be interests, or be curious about what is happening.

10. Do you teach yourself? When? Why?

Yes, on more than one occasion I have done this, especially when it comes to the computer and technology. There are so many things that I have had to learn, for classes and things like that, and I have found that once I started looking through everything, I became more interested in all sorts of other things. One thing for me is Twitter. This is one thing I had NO idea how to do when I first started, and each day I get on, I figure out more things you can do with it.

11. What role does a teacher (either answer generally or use a specific example) play in your learning?

I do think teachers are so important for children and the learning process. If students are motivated to learn, teachers need to be able to spark their interests and make things appealing to them. If teachers can keep things interesting for children, they will have a desire to learn and they will want to know more about it

12. What is the most important idea, question or emotional response you take away with you as a result of watching this video?

There are so many things I have taken from this video. I think it’s amazing how excited these children were just to be having a computer. They are in other countries and some of these countries do not have to tools and equipment we do here in the United States, so I think it’s so great to see these children so motivated to learn. Overall, I realize that children can teach themselves, if they have the desire to learn.

13. What other questions or issues are raised by this video that should be considered and discussed by aspiring teachers?

I think that one question I take from this is why are children less likely to want to teach themselves if they are all alone? Like the video explained, children in a group are more likely to discuss things amongst themselves. Another question teachers should keep in mind is, “What can I do to make things more interesting and exciting for my children in the classroom? How do I motivate my children to learn?”

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