21st Century Skills focus around preparing students for a global market and providing them technological skills to compete in a world-wide job market. I agree with what the author of this textbook is saying in Chapter 1; students need to be globally educated because the world is shrinking with the increase in popularity of technological social devices. Students cannot be ignorant of people from different countries because they are virtually competing for the same jobs.
The main question I gleaned from this chapter becomes how to find an appropriate balance between teaching core knowledge (math, science, reading, history, etc.) and technology skills. My opinion is that both are essential for any student, but the difficult part is to find a healthy balance. From my opinion and background, I'm not sure the school day is the best place to teach students technology skills because more than likely, they have already received that training from home, church, or other social events. School should focus on teaching the core subjects, with of course integrating and using technology to teach thosee subjects. As far as technology skills go, I believe students already receive that before they enter the school building. Granted, some Title 1 students might not have that opporunity, but the vast majority do. Most of the time, the students know more about technology than the teacher, so why would teachers want to "waste" their time teaching material to digital natives that they already know.
If schools will continue to progress toward teaching technology skills, I think the best way to find a healthy balance is simply integrate the material. Have the students do math drills using a computer program. I wouldn't have learned how to type if it wasn't for a computer program in high school that built its premise around shooting basketball into a hoop for every word typed correctly in a specific amount of time. Computers can be used to enhance repetition, and they can search for information very quickly. Both of these are just a few of the many examples for computers to engage students with the core curriculum.
The main question I gleaned from this chapter becomes how to find an appropriate balance between teaching core knowledge (math, science, reading, history, etc.) and technology skills. My opinion is that both are essential for any student, but the difficult part is to find a healthy balance. From my opinion and background, I'm not sure the school day is the best place to teach students technology skills because more than likely, they have already received that training from home, church, or other social events. School should focus on teaching the core subjects, with of course integrating and using technology to teach thosee subjects. As far as technology skills go, I believe students already receive that before they enter the school building. Granted, some Title 1 students might not have that opporunity, but the vast majority do. Most of the time, the students know more about technology than the teacher, so why would teachers want to "waste" their time teaching material to digital natives that they already know.
If schools will continue to progress toward teaching technology skills, I think the best way to find a healthy balance is simply integrate the material. Have the students do math drills using a computer program. I wouldn't have learned how to type if it wasn't for a computer program in high school that built its premise around shooting basketball into a hoop for every word typed correctly in a specific amount of time. Computers can be used to enhance repetition, and they can search for information very quickly. Both of these are just a few of the many examples for computers to engage students with the core curriculum.
You are correct that we cannot abandon core academics. And, it is true that kids learn technology outside of school. However, students will need some help to learn to use technology to accomplish appropriate educational outcomes.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Well done.
By the way, I do not yet see the Blog Roll (My Blog List gadget) or the Labels gadget deployed here. Please add these when you can...
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