Commenting on What Difference Might One “S” Make by David Warlick
What age group is Warlick referring to? I agree that we cannot possibly teach today’s students the technology of their future and we need to teach them to think and understand how technology works. Technology IS a tool but like every tool it does need to be taught. We teach children to hold cup, a spoon, a pencil, a calculator, we teach adolescents to use a stove/oven, a lawn mower, organize their notes, take a test, and teenagers to shave, drive a car, and use power tools. We teach tools everyday. We teach how to use them, what they are for, how to be safe and how to care for them. Why should technology be different? We should be teaching them the required skills at the correct ages.
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It is a disservice to say they will figure it out. I personally do not want to un-teach their bad habits in keyboarding, word processing, and lack of internet searching skills because educators believe some day these might not be needed. They are needed today and that is where I teach, in the present. Granted they can figure out many things on their own…I did, but I did it with the intent to learn the most effective and efficient way to do it. They can download music and text a mile a minute but they cannot format a document or edit graph data. They just get it done and while it often works it is not correct and when a change needs to be made their method falls apart. They need these skills today because the educational system and the business world require them.
I agree with some of the people who commented on the post, Ty Yost, “the best approach would be to take curricular content from the grade level and use it as the framework for the applications course”. Project based learning is authentic and a great way for students to display their knowledge of a topic. At a young age we should create opportunities for them to use the tools to learn; graphing scientific data, building comparisons tables, peer editing and collaboration. I like the way wmchamberlain put it; “In essence, show them how to use a shovel when they are young so they can build a tunnel when they are older.”
Let’s teach them to think, produce, and create responsibly and effectively.
