When I was at school, technology was fairly basic, the internet was relatively new and we used blackboards. Today’s students, however, are the first generations to grow up with new technology. They have spent the majority of their lives surrounded by and interacting with “computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age” (Prensky, 2001). The students in my class are certainly active users of technology; I was gobsmacked when I discovered every single student in the class had a mobile phone (this is in a year 5 class by the way, so students are roughly eleven years old) and about 90% of the students have four T.Vs in their homes!
Because the children of today have grown up in an environment that is saturated by technology, it is no surprise they therefore think and learn differently as a result. As Marc Prensky (2001) states in his article ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants’: It is now clear that as a result of this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it, today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors”. This means the traditional methods teachers were exposed to when they were at school are now outdated, and no longer appropriate for the students of today (Prensky, 2001). Therefore it is critical teachers adopt new teaching methodologies that are appropriate for students from the i-generation. In order to do this, they must teach differently from the way they were taught and “learn new ways to do old stuff” (Prensky, 2001) so students are engaged in the learning experience.
References:
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon. 9 (5).
No comments:
Post a Comment