These children have something to teach you via Timbuktu

December 28, 2012

Of course you already know that there are countless lessons your kids teach you every day, without meaning to. But here is a selection of kids that actually mean to teach lessons: in programming, maths, even medicine. They don’t simply listen to adults and take notes, but share what they know with you: in a simple, and surprisingly effective, way.

1 – Sylvia and her Super-Awesome Makers Show

Sylvia has few tutorials on Youtube, and she’s been working on them for the past couple of years: from copper etching to screen printing to – brace yourself! – arduino projects, Sylvia will coach you step-by-step though all sorts of fun activities.

2 – Mathrain.tv

Mathrain is an entire site dedicated to kids teaching maths and other school subjects to each other (and as always, many of these lessons are useful to refresh adults’ knowledge too). Here is the founder presenting the project.

3 – Adora Svitak

In this TED talk, Adora explains why the world needs more “childish” thinking made of bold ideas, optimism,  wild creativity: essentially, the value that inspire us at Timbuktu every day.

4 – Jack Andraka

Jack Andraka was 15 when he found an effective and innovative way to detect pancreatic cancer. In this talk, he explains how he made that discovery.

5 – Sugata Mitra’s kids teaching themselves

Sugata Mitra’s TED talk on Indian children teaching themselves English is one of our favorites ever. It shows what fantastic successes kids can achieve if given the right stimulus, and what incredible potential they have.

Brought to you by Timbuktu.