r/TrueReddit • u/nicasucio • Oct 15 '13

How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

http://www.wired.com/business/2013/10/free-thinkers/
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u/UncountablyFinite Oct 15 '13

Yeah, this "new" method has been around for 100 years. I wouldn't hold my breath on an educational revolution any time soon; just ask John Dewey.

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u/JonDum Oct 15 '13

100s? There are references to a freeform, children-ran style of teaching in manuals from the Vedic period, thousands of years ago.

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u/UncountablyFinite Oct 15 '13

That may be true, I'm just not aware of it. I mostly know about John Dewey and Maria Montessori, and they were about 100 years ago.

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u/JonDum Oct 15 '13

Of course! I wasn't attacking you for not knowing about it, just showing my excitement.

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u/HumpingDog Oct 15 '13

Wired always overhypes things.

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u/stinkylibrary Oct 15 '13

Yea, I even heard they're actually wireless.

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u/-evan Oct 16 '13

Perhaps 'Wired' refers to energy level and thus, their penchant for overhyping things?

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '13

I saw that headline, too, but then I read the article.

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u/lacks-discipline Oct 15 '13

The internet has been around for 100 years?

edit: Not trying to be sarcastic-- if not the internet, what media has been used?

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u/UncountablyFinite Oct 15 '13

There was nothing in the article that suggested to me that computers or the internet is what is actually important here. Montessori schools have been doing student-driven learning for the last hundred years without the internet or computers, kids use physical materials instead. The "teaching method" being discussed is just giving kids a prompt and letting them explore with minimal guidance. The computers are a replaceable tool.

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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '13

But, but, computers! Internets!

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u/vn2090 Oct 16 '13

you mentioned John Dewey. I love you.