Peter Gray
Freedom to Learn by Peter Gray (psychologytoday.com)
Peter Gray's blog on the Psychology Today website offers the best independent writing we know supporting the educational ideas behind the Sudbury model. Peter Gray is a research professor of psychology at Boston College. He has conducted and published research in comparative, evolutionary, developmental, and educational psychology; published articles on innovative teaching methods and alternative approaches to education; and is author of Psychology (Worth Publishers), an introductory college textbook now in its 6th edition. He did his undergraduate study at Columbia University and earned a Ph.D. in biological sciences at Rockefeller University. His current writing focuses primarily on the life-long value of play.
A Sample of Writings
Learning Requires Freedom: Introduction to a New Blog about Play, Curiosity, and Education
Children Educate Themselves II: We All Know That’s True for Little Kids
Children Educate Themselves III: The Wisdom of Hunter-Gatherers
Children Educate Themselves IV: Lessons from Sudbury Valley A Brief History of Education
Why Schools Are What They Are II: Forces Against Fundamental Change
Sudbury Valley School
Sudbury Valley School Online Library (sudval.org)
At Sudbury Valley School, students from preschool through high school age explore the world freely, at their own pace and in their own unique ways. They learn to think for themselves, and learn to use Information Age tools to unearth the knowledge they need from multiple sources. They develop the ability to make clear logical arguments, and deal with complex ethical issues. Through self-initiated activities, they pick up the basics; as they direct their lives, they take responsibility for outcomes, set priorities, allocate resources, and work with others in a vibrant community.
Articles on the Following Subjects
Life at Sudbury Valley
Underlying Ideas
Parents and School
One Person, One Vote
Alumni
Sir Ken Robinson
(photo from his
TED talk on creativity)
Sir Ken Robinson (sirkenrobinson.com)
"Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence..."We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says... Robinson's TEDTalk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006. The most popular words framing blog posts on his talk? "Everyone should watch this."" - TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design)
Growing Artistic Talent
Business Week
A Mathematician's Lament
A Mathematician's Lament, was written by Paul Lockhart in 2002. Mr. Lockhart is a mathematics teacher at Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn, New York. The Mathematical Association of America featured "A Mathematicians Lament" in a column by mathematician Keith Devlin who is the Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University and The Math Guy on NPR's Weekend Edition.
"And there you have it. A complete prescription for permanently disabling young minds— a proven cure for curiosity. What have they done to mathematics! There is such breathtaking depth and heartbreaking beauty in this ancient art form. How ironic that people dismiss mathematics as the antithesis of creativity. They are missing out on an art form older than any book, more profound than any poem, and more abstract than any abstract. And it is school that has done this! What a sad endless cycle of innocent teachers inflicting damage upon innocent students. We could all be having so much more fun."
