Which brings me to my point today. I was recently working with a group of children (not students since school was not in session!) looking for information on a variety of topics online. They used high quality keywords to get some excellent search results using Google. As I scanned the first several results pages I thought the results were excellent...
Unfortunately the kids didn't. I am sure you know why.
My epiphany that day, which I should have had earlier in my career, is that the same problem exists today that existed when computers/Internet first became fashionable in schools--our new generation of "Digital Natives" as Marc Prensky calls them, can use the tools to find and display information, but still have trouble evaluating the information. Compounded with information OVERLOAD, this is a serious problem.
Our children and students are digital natives without question. They can pick up and use virtually any device intuitively, figure out how apps work and even WHY and WHEN to use certain apps, work collaboratively with their peers in ways that I could not have even imagined when I was in school (Google docs, Skype, etc...), and present/demonstrate their skills using such a variety of technology tools (think iMovie). But as "digital immigrants" (Prensky again), we have a distinct advantage garnered from the days of having to use actual books for research, having to go to multiple libraries to find these books, and having to scan or read the acquired books--we can decipher important from non-essential information.
Now I am not calling for a return to book research...those of you who know me well would LOL if I said that. What I am calling for is a more dedicated effort, across the scope of our school, to provide more opportunities for problem-solving and inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning in which the teacher is facilitator and "guidance" counselor and in which the "problems" take time to evaluate and solve.
This is THE 21st Century skill.
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