Children's Minds on Tech

We are all enthusiastic about implementing technology but do we all understand the impact on our brains and what is actually going on inside? This seem to be a very important question to answer so that we better develop strategies for implementing technology. Author Jim Taylor describes this precarious balance in his article How Technology is Changing the Way Children Think and Focus. In his article he describes how a child’s brain is actually being affected by exposure to technology. In prior generations learning the skill of reading allowed the brain to become focused and imaginative. However the use of the internet today is rewiring children’s brains to be better at scanning. (Taylor).  

Changing a Child's Focus

But school is far from the most influential technology forum for children. For our children the majority of their technology exposure may come from social media. With regular social media use they are constantly multi-tasking and may begin to exhibit less desirable behavior characteristics.

Even the Washington Post has jumped on the bandwagon of technology causing brain impairment. Similar to the above video author Jim Taylor also asserts that technology such as video gaming and social networking trigger dopamine in the same manner as a hard drug would. Taylor goes on further to caution that instant access to information without guidance causes deep thinking to diminish. Which is the exact opposite effect that educators are trying to achieve. Schools implement technology to hopefully create deeper thinking.

Destroying Your Mind

Others straddle the fence like the Wall Street Journal. In their article Does technology belong in classroom instruction? author Lisa Nielson says yes that in fact students learn more deeply with technology. Her assertion is then countered by Jose Bowen states that technology is a distraction and does not help students learn or think.

Debate on Tech in the Classroom

But what can be done? We cannot turn back the tide of technology but some how we need to harness it in the classroom to yield a beneficial education outcome?

Storytelling: Not Just for Kindergarteners

How many of you can look back on your younger years and remember a story that was told to you by your parent, sibling, or religion? Many of those same stories became deeply ingrained in your mind. And often these same stories had lessons to be learned that you might practice today. For instance your religion may have told you the story of Moses and his ten commandments. Decades later you probably still recall that it is wrong to murder. Throughout human history we have used stories to convey information in a meaningful way. But we do not just use stories to convey information but also help us recall that same information years later.

But please do not let me convince you alone. The below link provides you a story about a real life classroom in Houston where teacher Lynne Zalesak use Digital Storytelling in her classroom to more effectively teach her students.

I hope you enjoyed this real life classroom story depicting the use of modern technology and the old art of storytelling.

Now storytelling does not have to be as sophisticated, using high tech programs but can also be as simple as sharing or creating a case study. Business Schools have utilized case studies for years to facilitate deep learning among their graduate students. This same mechanism of learning can also be used within other education fields to convey important information on effective teaching practices. While researching storytelling techniques I came across the topic of Student Centered Learning and one particular school that is having a great deal of success with this teaching approach. In the below story we read about the real world impact of Student Centered Learning at the Impact Academy, located in an urban area with high poverty. In this story we learn the effectiveness of personal connections between teachers and students.

Student Centered Learning at the Impact Academy (Link)

But is storytelling just a new fad or something very effective? Storytelling has been shown to be very effective throughout history and across all age groups. In the research paper An Analysis of The Effectiveness of Storytelling, author Jill Eck asserts that “storytelling offers a highly natural and powerful means to convey, learn, and retain information”.  For those less inclined to read a lengthy research paper I would point you toward a recent book I enjoyed reading Think Like a Freak by popular authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. These two authors have produced numerous popular books that lead us beyond our internal bias by using facts and stories. They attribute some of their success to storytelling. Their hypothesis relies on a few storytelling principles. First that “a story exerts a power beyond the obvious”. Second, that “stories appeal to the narcissist in all of us”. As we hear a story we begin to feel like we are living the story. And finally they say that we tell stories because they capture our attention and are excellent tools for teaching.

So if research and history tell us how effective storytelling is, how can we better integrate this practice into regular teaching?

References

1. Digital Storytelling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufVnMDVskLo
2. An Analysis of The Effectiveness of Storytelling with Adult Learners. http://www2.uwstout.edu/content/lib/thesis/2006/2006eckj.pdf
3. Teaching with Case Studies https://web.stanford.edu/dept/CTL/cgi-bin/docs/newsletter/case_studies.pdf
4. Student-Centered Learning: Impact Academy of Arts and Technology https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/SCOPE-Student-Centered-Learning-Impact.pdf
5. Think Like a Freak by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
6. Images: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Children%27s_storytelling

Can Technology in Education Cross the Poverty Divide?

Technology in education has revolutionized how teaching is happening throughout our country but it is possible that some are being left out of this wave of innovation and progress. Similar to prior generations a large mass of children live in poverty or near poverty and fail to obtain the access to education that they need to prosper as adults. In a recent report by ETS Center for Research on Human Capital and Education author Richard J., Coley connected the linkage between child poverty and education and what if anything could be done.   

As Mr. Coley pointed out childhood poverty is endemic in our country. He cites such factors as an amazingly high child poverty rate of 20%. He also points out that even though the U.S. ranks as one of the richest countries in the world it holds the simultaneous distinction of having the second highest poverty level if prosperous countries. He then goes on to link educational success with economic advantage. Simply put those who have access to a good education will receive access to the riches of adulthood. Therefore if a school and its teachers are to prepare our students for college and future success we must work to educate all our students rich and poor. .

Technology plays a positive role in education for those students who have access to it but might serve as an additional barrier to those that do not.  On the one hand those raised in high poverty schools simply do not have access to technology for learning. In the article Using Technology to Support At-Risk Students Learning published by Standard Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, authors Hammond, Zielezinski, and Goldman identify that there are huge disparities in access to the internet across socioeconomic groups. Furthermore their research indicated that less than 10% of students in high poverty schools had the digital tools they need to do work at home. Furthermore they assert that even when technology is deployed in the class environment the results are mixed and do not meet the lofty promises of success.

However, these same authors do believe that it maybe possible to close part of the gap. In their article they publish three factors that are needed for technology instruction for high risk students. These include: interactive learning, creating and exploring and finding a proper technology blend. It is their belief that using such techniques could help improve education in high poverty areas.

But the reality still remains. As some schools aggressively implement and utilize education technology other less fortunate schools do not and their students do not keep pace. This creates a dilemma for a teacher. How can a teacher implement technology in an effective and reasonably fair way. If some of the instructor’s students do not have access to technology resources at home where others do, how should homework be levied? In class where should the teacher’s attention go, to the student who  does not understand the software or hardware or to the student who is tech savvy and working on content?  

One company that is using the technology to bridge the gap is Dell with their Youth Learning Program, A global initiative designed to use technology to improve education among the less privileged.

Youth Learning

In other cases government are intervening to promote technology among the poor.

Public Funding of Technology

Perhaps there is no one single answer but I am sure there are numerous ways that teachers, schools and communities can teach for the betterment of all their students not just the more privileged.

References:
1. Image 1: https://www.google.com/search?site=imghp&tbm=isch&q=education%20technology%20images&tbs=sur:fmc 

Busting the Teaching Paradigm

Simply put, are today’s schools preparing students for the future that awaits them?

There seems to be a disconnect between our global environment that our students live in and the teaching environment we expose them to. Today some students go from a highly connected household to a virtually barren teaching environment. There is rapid uptake of technology by our young students but a much slower adoption of new software and hardware by our schools. Are our students actually taking a walk back in time when they enter the classroom?

As a soon to be educator, it seems to me that we grasp on to our old teaching norms and that these legacy methods of teaching may not be in the best interest of tomorrow’s students. Progressively changing our school curriculum’s to adapt to a new environment is essential to prepare our students for the future but this is not just my opinion.  Ms. Heidi Jacobs in her book Curriculum 21 Essential Education for a Changing World, identifies critical steps for achieving improvements in our future curriculum. First perpetuating our common teaching customs is not sufficient. As adults we tend to value what worked for us in the past and what we we recognize and feel comfortable with. Unfortunately the world has rapidly changed over the past 20 years and with this change has been an interconnectedness through technology. Now our worlds go far beyond our towns and cities. Accesses to information is virtually limitless. Harnessing this technology must be a part of our new learning. Our future requires innovating new methods of teaching.

Second, Ms. Jacobs also points out that learning to think alike is a regressive teaching function. She asserts this is what we tend to do in the classroom.  Instead our schools and curriculum should focus on promoting innovation and reflection rather than than perpetuating a narrow view of the world and a general fear of new ideas. Teaching our students to isolate themselves and not to consider other opinions will be an impairment to them in the future. One country, Singapore has been very successful in this endeavor.

Finally promoting creativity will help unlock our student’s future success. In this new technology age we are moving toward the right brain thinker, a thinker that uses high level concepts, who can better understand patterns and a citizen who can better understand human interactions. We should embrace technology to assist our students in expanding their educational reach where they can collaborate and obtain a richer and deeper experience with technology application like Blogger and Youtube.

Our new teaching methods can not relegate the teaching of arts to a lower level of importance. Rather the function of creativity we exercise in the arts must be brought forward and integrated into our other teaching forums of math, reading and writing. Only then will our students be better able to master their future environments that is far different than the one our current teachers entered years ago?

How do you prepare your students for the future, A future we don’t yet know? Will some of our old traditional ways still be useful for tomorrow?