Insight Academy, a new school open to children ages 7 to 17, plans to open in Ajijic, August 20.
The school is part of a new student-centered wave in education that does away with teachers, classrooms, timetables and exams. It will be the first of this type in Mexico. Insight founder, Carlos Martinez, has spent a lifetime in education, principally at the PanAmerican University in Guadalajara.
The methods focus on team work, projects, individual study and computer-based learning from a choice of internet portals. Every student has a coach who mentors the student. All learning goals and plans are recorded by the student in a personal log book. Parents meet with the student and the coach each month.
Students are empowered to make choices and move at their own pace using their preferred learning modes.
The first schools to adopt these student-centered methods were the Kunskapsskolan Schools in Sweden, founded in 1999. Currently, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is investing millions to introduce similar methods to U.S. schools.
“Our deepest learning comes from our own experience and not from a teacher,” says Martinez
An open house will be held Saturday, July 15, noon to 6 p.m., to introduce the school and its new concepts to the public. The Academy is located at Ocampo 165A, in Ajijic.