The Power of Unstructured Learning
I came across a bold experiment that got me thinking about the power of unstructured learning.
In 2012, the One Laptop Per Child organization dropped off closed boxes with Android laptops in two villages in Ethiopia.
The boxes were taped shut, and had no instructions.
Kids from these two villages approached the boxes. Kids who had never previously seen printed materials, road signs, or even packaging that had words on them.
Here’s what happened:
Within 4 minutes, they found the on-off switch and powered it up
Within 5 days, they were using 47 apps per kid, per day
Within 2 weeks, they were singing ABC songs in the village
Within 5 months, they had hacked Android
No school. No teacher. No textbook.
“The kids had completely customized the desktop—so every kids’ tablet looked different. We had installed software to prevent them from doing that. The fact they worked around it was clearly the kind of creativity, the kind of inquiry, the kind of discovery that we think is essential to learning.” —Nicholas Negroponte, One Laptop Per Child’s founder
What can we learn about unstructured learning from this?
Kids have a natural desire to learn. Sometimes, all they need is access, time, and space. Sometimes, all we need to do is stay out of the way. This is the power of unstructured learning.
I’ve been working with kids for years now, and it is very clear to me that it is not possible to force education on them. No matter how much we try to cram knowledge into their heads, they can just ignore it.
We cannot educate kids. We can only inspire them to educate themselves.
This realization made me stop trying to force learning and instead, focus on inspiring kids to learn on their own. The best way to help kids learn is to be a source of inspiration, motivation, and resources. And this is something that any parent can do, sometimes even better than teachers at school.
The big thing here is to nurture curiosity and provide the space and time for them to explore and find things they want to learn about.
Here I share 10 ways to cultivate creativity at home.
What scenario plays better in your head: an enthusiastic and creative kid who is missing a few facts, or the kid who memorized those facts but who says “I hate learning”?
I explore ideas like this in Fab Fridays, my newsletter on childhood education and new ways to learn.
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