After watching the child-driven education video, I was surprised to see how quickly children can learn without any guidance. It was interesting to watch them try and solve the answer to the majority of questions being asked of them. Then once they were given another question, it was a piece of cake. Whereas, if someone had approached them and told them what to do, they might have not as easily answered the question on the second or even third try. It was easier for them to understand a computer by exploring it on their own.
On the other hand, I do not think this is an effective way of teaching in a classroom, especially when a class is learning core content. It would not be educational to hand a child a book of Algebra and tell them to do it, it might work for a few kids, but the rest of the class would not even know where to start without a teacher's explanation. However, when it comes to learning about how a computer works, I think it can be effective. A computer was something these children had never used before and once they discovered what it was capable of, the wanted to keep discovering and playing games and searching programs and being creative. Creativity should always be encouraged in a classroom atmosphere. The best part was that the children enjoyed what they were learning. It kept their interest and more importantly, they remembered the content two months later when they were tested on the same information. Like you restated Matt, "If children have interest, education happens". I appreciated that quote as well.
