Darunsikkhalai

Darunsikkhalai, School for Innovative Learning (DSIL), is a holistic pilot project to further education reform under a collaborative effort made by the Thaicom Foundation, Suksapattana Foundation, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) and the Future of Learning Group at the Media Laboratory of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Established as a pilot project within King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok, DSIL is seen by many as one of the leading examples of learner-centered learning, technology integrated for lifelong learning education in the world.

DSIL Facilitators assist learning by providing a starting point for studying the students’ chosen topic. They answer student’s question or, better still, point students in a direction to find their own answers. They learn and explore with the students, so the facilitator's relationship with them is one of equality. Recent project topics have included Genetics, Natural disasters, Egyptian, Human biology, Food Chemistry, Robotics..Constructionist theory was pioneered by Professor Seymour Papert of MIT. His research spanned more than 20 years and brought new insights into how children learn. Briefly, his conclusion is that children learn best when the topic is interesting. Papert said “good learners don’t come from better teaching, rather good learners come from a process of personal discovery through inquiry.”

Professor Papert was instrumental in the formation of DSIL. DSIL was launched in November 2000, four years after the first long workshop on Constructionism was conducted in Chiangrai Province (Thailand) led by Professor Papert. The four intervening years were an invaluable and necessary preparation period of intensive Constructionist learning for the launch of the school. The methodology of Learner Centered Learning, introduced to Thailand by Professor Papert, Professor Glorianna Davenport, Dr. David Cavallo and others from MIT Media Laboratory, was applied to the school, in conjunction with MIT Sloan School Professor Peter Senge’s Learning Organization culture to optimize the children’s learning with a pool of intellectual resources. This means that the families and nearby community also took an active role in cultivating a continuous, rich learning environment for 7 days/week and 24 hours/day. After a long period of preparation and operation, it was evident that both Learner Centered Learning and Learning Organization were inseparable and fruitful concepts in support of Constructionist learning. Moreover, information technology (being implicit in Constructionism) was fully integrated into the school life in order to enable or further elevate Constructionist learning. Lastly, DSIL’s goal was to become a center of learning about learning i.e. a place of reflective experimentation, where both the teachers and students could learn simultaneously.

Concept and Methodology

The heart of Learner-Centered Learning (Project-based Learning incorporating the concept of Constructionism) is the recognition of the dignity of the child, while the heart of the Learning Organization is the recognition of the dignity of both the learners and facilitators. Through these two philosophies, DSIL customizes and develops its activities in a way that suits each individual, keeping both learners and facilitators stimulated, promoting a mutual sense of ownership and self-development, and developing everyone into lifelong learners.

References

External links

http://e-school.kmutt.ac.th/ School home page

http://learning.media.mit.edu/index.html MIT Future of Learning Group