Self-Organized Success

CINDY LUO
Staff Writer

Research shows that students who work in groups, in addition to regular instructions, are more likely to learn more efficiently compared to those who are only taught by a teacher. This system, called self-organization, is ideal in places where teachers may not be available.

Sugata Mitra’s experiment in self-organized learning won him the 2013 Technology Entertainment Design (TED) Prize, and he spoke about the results of his experiment at the TED annual conference.

“[When the experiment reached] the end of about two years […], the teachers reported [that students had] dramatic improvements in […] all sort of things, […and] they became really deep thinkers,” Mitra said.

Through his research, Mitra discovered teachers’ enforced instructions only reduce students’ interests in learning. However, he believes that studying in groups can enable students to think more independently and facilitate the process of memorizing information.

“Collaboration can be a really powerful tool,” math teacher Aya Kamimura said. “[When students collaborate], they take [the lesson] way farther than I could anticipate.”

However, when students in teams are not responsible with their assigned parts, teamwork learning will not be useful.

“It wastes valuable learning time. Some students must slow down to help others,” freshman Samantha Jones said.

According to Mitra’s research, students with self-organization and the will to learn will be more creative and productive than individuals who are given a teacher’s direct instruction.