Summary: Learning is an integral part of human nature. But why do we — as adults — assume learning must be taught, tested, and reinforced? Why do we put so much effort in making kids think and act like us? In this hour, TED speakers explore the different ways babies and children learn on their own — from the womb, to the playground, to the web. Education researcher Sugata Mitra explains how he brought self-supervised access to the web for children in India’s slums and villages — with results that have made him rethink teaching. Science writer Annie Murphy Paul discusses how fetuses begin taking cues from the outside world while still in the womb. Developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik argues that like scientists, babies and young children follow a sophisticated systematic process of exploration when they play. Veteran teacher Rita Pierson says children need relationships and human connection in order to be inspired to learn. Sugata Mitra returns later in the episode to talk about his vision to build a school in a cloud where children drive a new kind of self-organized classroom.
