Can you kill a goat by staring at it? A critical look at minimally invasive education

In his renowned ‘Hole in the Wall’ experiments in developing countries, Dr Sugata Mitra gave children access to an internet-connected computer and left them to learn what they could, unsupervised, with apparently remarkable results.

By Rob James

The question of whether philosophy should be taught as part of religious education arguably comes down to a decision between teaching either on their own merits, or whether ongoing threats to religious education in schools can be best dealt with by making the subject more relevant for students. The recent introduction of an English Baccalaureate controversially removed RE as one of the core subjects, in contrast to its use within the GCSE as a short course and full option. In effect, students no longer require some form of RE as an important part of their secondary education.

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By former Philosophy Foundation pupil Alfie Blagg, age 13.

This scary question may make our head hurt or make us panic. What actually makes a human person an individual and what changes through our lives effects who we are. Seven billion people live on Planet Earth today and every single one of them is different; by their facial features, skin colour, personal opinions, size, weight, height, DNA and many other differences. But we can’t deny the change our bodies and minds encounter through our lives. If one was to say that what defines us is our cells and how they are, that would be very incorrect because cells change every seven years.