Why Child-Driven Learning Works
Imagine a school where children choose their own lessons, and are motivated and enthusiastic to learn. Sounds like a parent’s fantastical utopia, doesn’t it? Sugata Mitra, founder of the Hole-in-the-Wall experiment and Minimally Invasive Education, doesn’t think so. He discovered that through the use of learning centers, children were able to learn and thrive on their own, without the input of teachers. Many untraditional schools such as some Montessori and Waldorf schools utilize this concept of child-driven learning, as do many homeschooling families. Child-driven education is also the defining characteristic of unschooling. Photo Credit: Shelby Sheene Shelby Sheene, mother of three unschooled children in Tampa Bay, Florida, says, “Unschooling is a method that embraces the idea that children want to learn. It is basically learning through life and...