Free to Learn: Self-directed Learning

Free to Learn: Self-directed learning I am most grateful to Peter Gray who took his time to talk about his research and passion about self-directed learning. Peter Gray, Ph.D., was a research professor of psychology at Boston College, USA and is a renowned advocate for self-directed learning. Imagine what would happen if, instead of sending children to conventional schools where their natural ways of learning are curtailed, we provided them with the resources that would allow their curiosity, playfulness, and other natural ways of learning to flourish. That is Self-Directed Education (SDE): education that derives from the self-chosen activities and life experiences of the learner. There are three videos derived from the talk I had with Peter. Social media, play and self-directed learning. This final video concentrates on the research and the conclusions he reached regarding self-directed learning. Peter’s observations and research are based on his son’s school. His son described his original state school as a, ‘prison’. So at the age of ten his parents relented and sent him to a school with an unconventional curriculum, partially derived by the pupils themselves. This school would seem similar to the Summerhill School in the UK and the Steiner Education (Waldorf) Schools. Links Peter’s Website https://www.petergray.org/ Play makes us human https://petergray.substack.com/ Free at Last by Daniel Greenberg https://bookstore.sudburyvalley.org/product/free-last Reference Bowles, S. and Gintis, E. (2000). The origins of mass public education. CH.33 in Roy Lowe (Ed.), History of Education: Major Themes. Volume II: Education in its Social Context . London. RoutledgeFalmer.