Invisible Structures & School in Clouds PDF

Lesson Invisible Structures Invisible learning is not a theory for learning, itself. It is an endpoint or state of learning that emerges when we remove structures that control or direct our experiences. The theory for invisible learning is that we learn more, and do so invisibly, when we separate s...

Lesson Invisible Structures Invisible learning is not a theory for learning, itself. It is an endpoint or state of learning that emerges when we remove structures that control or direct our experiences. The theory for invisible learning is that we learn more, and do so invisibly, when we separate structures of control that restrict freedom and self-determination from learning experiences. The purpose of controlling an educational experience is to make learning visible. It is built on distrust of the learner – the false assumption that students will not learn unless they are told what to learn. In this sense, invisible learning is the end product of a theory which predicts that learning may blossom when we eliminate authoritarian control or direction of a learning experience by an “others” (i.e., teachers). By removing structures of control it opens possibilities. The end outcomes or goals of an experience are neither dictated nor determined from the start, but instead emerge as learning develops. Such experiences include free play, self-organized learning communities, authentic problem-based learning, and experimentation to acquire new knowledge. This suggests a growing need for bottom-up approaches to learning. Removing the rigidity of top-down control, and placing trust in learners, invisible learning can be made visible. School in Clouds School in Clouds was introduced by Sugata Mitra. He described his experiences providing technology in isolated areas – not in schools, but embedded in impoverished communities so that young people could explore and learn at will. He proposed the creation of “School in the Cloud”, allowing students all over the world opportunities to learn independently using technology. It instructs how to set up a classroom that is a self-organized learning experience (SOLE). Educators post “Big Questions” in a SOLE, and students collaborate to fins solutions in “purposefully chaotic environments”. The goal of big questions is to drive students research, spark curiosity, and establish connections between multiple disciplines. The School in Clouds Methods Use child driven education Using the children’s natural curiosity to guide lessons Using adult leaders to guide lessons Child driven Education and Curiosity Driven Lessons  These go hand in hand Using the children curiosity to guide lessons is a key concept of Children Driven Education Children are provided the materials, and teach themselves along with their classmates Can help children see what they are capable of… Bring children closer together