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
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