“How could we rethink our K-12 curriculum for the 21st century, symbiotically combining human strengths with the most powerful technology strengths?”
Our curriculum needs to be updated to catch up with the 21st century. Prensky says, “Technology...is an extension of our brains; it's a new way of thinking. It's the solution we humans have created to deal with our difficult new context of variability, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.” Technology, in some way or another, is here to stay. We need to find a way to embrace it in our classrooms and fuse it with what we already know works.
Research has found that hands-on learning is most effective in the classroom. When a student is able to be a part of the learning process he is more likely to retain the information. Technology allows us to do this in our classrooms. We need to incorporate more experiences into the curriculum. Technology allows us to travel to places we may not have been able to travel, it allows us to speak with people we couldn’t before. Technology makes it possible to create a cyber world to buy and sell stocks, start a business, or manage a sports team.
We, as teachers, know it is important that students learn fundamental skills: reading, addition, subtraction, etc. We have gotten good at learning the best ways to teach these skills. We now have the benefit of using technology to expand these skills and offer students multiple means of practice. I do not believe that technology and the content should be in competition with each other, rather we can find a way of fusing them together so that they can complement each other. We need to make sure our children master basic skills to the best of their ability and then we can teach them how to use the technology available to assist them and allow them to dig even deeper into learning.
Our K-12 curriculum would need to be changed to allow more time for experiences, for cooperative learning and time for students to use technology to invent and create. All teachers would need to work with students to teach how to correctly use the technology available to them. Teachers themselves would need to be trained in what exactly is out there. The process of changing the curriculum would take a lot of time but the shift towards technology would only benefit our students. Technology can offer real-world application and can answer the “so-what” of education.
Krista,
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with the need for teachers to incorporate technology into the classroom, while still ensuring that the students learn the fundamental skills. By looking at technology as hands-on learning and as an opportunity for the students to become engaged in the learning, I feel that you could convince the technology-hesitant teachers to incorporate technology into the classroom. Students will learn so much from technology and by teaching them the correct ways and more efficient ways to use technology, teachers will be providing students with a life-long skill. I also couldn't agree more with the need for teacher training! It is such a valid and crucial point to be brought up in the discussion about technology. I really enjoyed reading your point of view!
Kellie