Deeper Thinking with the Microwave Generation

While at a Kiwanis event this past weekend I (Ellen) ended up sitting at a table with all educators except for me and one other person, who asked how are kids different these days? One of the educators replied with, “they are part of the microwave generation, zap and here is the answer.”

It is interesting to ponder a group of people, who for all their life, when presented with a question had the ability to just ask Google. One of the educators went on to say that it is hard to get her students to work into the depths of a problem. Of course, that is exactly where you want them to go, deep into a problem because Google is there for everyone, right?

So, what does going deeper into a problem look like in a classroom? What tools and what environments provide support to the “microwave generation” to move beyond the quick answer? Access to the internet only gives them Google….

At a workshop, I also attended recently, a STEM (STEM is an acronym referring to the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) instructor said the answer is white boards, and when the presentation showed a whiteboard wall and table tops his colleague was excited and said “that is what we need.” Really white boards! That’s it? This response is coming from a UC system cutting edge multi-disciplinary hub of educational innovation.

Maybe, in the end that is what we need, to worry less about the new age technology, which the students will bring in their hand anyways, and more about the basics, which of course white boards fit the basic. It may be a matter of thinking of white boards in a new perspective. Student centered groups, non-teacher lead discussions, and deeper more engaging discussion of a “real-life” multidisciplinary learning opportunity….white boards are not just for teachers.

Interested in the effectiveness of deeper learning? Here is an article from eSchool News:

Deeper learning has significant impact, study finds

By Laura Devaney, Managing Editor, @eSN_Laura
September 26th, 2014

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/09/26/deeper-learning-study-909/

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