Daily Insight Video

Hi From New York City!

I attended the opening of the first SOLE lab in the United States today, and it was amazing! It was a little anticlimactic; Sugata Mitra spoke for a little while and then some children came in to work through a lesson with him.

The question given to the children was, why do dogs chase cats?

The kids went off on their own and searched for the answer, which was interesting, but the amazing part happened a little later on. This brief question brought up the idea of why some animals pick on other animals, which brought the students to terms such as predator and prey. They came to these ideas on their own because they were proactive and engaged. It was incredible!

The biggest thing I got from watching all of this happen was that it is so valuable to simply try something new.

Sugata Mitra was not an educator or teacher; he was not originally interested in working with students or designing new learning environments for them. The work he has done is not related to the degree he holds at all.

Seeing his work play out has made me realize the power of trying things. Take a chance, and try something that you have never done before and that may not always be a success.

Stay tuned for more videos from New York the next couple of days!