I found the second part of the article to be more thought-provoking than the first 36 pages. It is still wordy and repetitive, but I could understand more clearly what the authors were getting at. Some of the points were not only understandable, but also might have some practical use for teachers.
The sixth skill is distributed cognition, meaning that intelligence is not just in your brain anymore, but also in your ability to use technology to think for you. Spellcheckers, databases and other computer programs allow you to do things quickly that would take much longer if you do them on your own.
Collective intelligence refers to the ability to work with others to solve problems or to attain a common goal. When students combine knowledge and share ideas, solutions are found and goals attained. Usually the results are more complex and richer than if they had been attained without teamwork.
Judgment is the ability to evaluate sources of information. Students need to know how material is developed and the biases with which it is presented.
Transmedia navigation allows students to gain information from many sources in many forms. While reading, writing, speaking and listening are still critical skills, students need to know how to use and evaluate information from music, images, movies and each other.
Networking means that students have the ability to use the computer (search engines, databases, etc.) to gather information, to combine that information to produce new knowledge and then to communicate what they have discovered to a specific, interested audience.
Negotiation skill allows students to work effectively with a diverse population of people, ideas and cultures.
Having identified the three core problems and the eleven core skills, the authors make suggestions how schools, after-school programs and parents can help students learn this new literacy.
The challenge for this new literacy is how to give all students these skills so that there is no technological culture gap created.
This article, along with another one just published in the May issue of Reading Teacher, made me reconsider game playing for children. I can see where there would be positive results as far as working cooperatively rather than competitively, having a non-threatening environment to experiment in, receiving feedback when learning new skills, and solving complex problems using multiple sources of information. These are all important skills that should be taught purposefully to all students. The other side of that is that students also need to understand the consequences of too much technology. This morning’s paper reported on the visit to Cheldelin Middle School of the “Subway Guy.” He told the students that his weight problems began in third grade when his parents gave him a Nintendo. He spent all his time sitting at a computer or in front of the TV and lost interest in sports and outdoor activities. While he has been able to lose weight and sustain a lower weight, most people can’t. I feel the time children spend on technology needs to be balanced (or overbalanced) by time spent in physical activity, play and face-to-face social contact.
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5 comments:
Thank you Pat. You made clearer for me the idea of distributed cognition. I still don't know if I can jump on that bandwagon completely. It's nice to have spellcheckers, but it is undeniably quicker if you have the knowledge of spelling so you don't constantly have to use the spellchecker. It's sort of like calculators in math. Don't know the times tables - use the calculator.
I keep wondering if collective intelligence is the same as "groupthink." I remember reading over the years that the US had an edge over the Japanese in "creating" technology because the Japanese always were looking for concensus within the group, which didn't make for the sort of innovative thinking that the more individualistic Americans achieved. I'm not coming to any conclusions here, just musing.
I like what you had to say about balance. Like you, while I believe that the skills addressed in this article are important, they address only a component of the education we want children to have - there is, after all, a big wide "real" world out there.
In response to Kathryn's post, I think taht collective intelligence is a little bit different than our perceived notion of "groupthink." I think the authors of the report wished to comment more on the importance of everyone participating with their own strengths, rather than everyone being a renaissance person.
I agree with your point that Pat's response is well-stated and helps us to understand these concepts even more!
I agree with you that balance is the key. I think it is important for all children to be able to use the variety of technology that is available so that they can be active members of our high tech society but not to the detriment of children's health and ability to interact socially face to face with their peers as well as adults.
On Turn off TV week, one girl wrote that she had forgot how fun it was for her and her sister to go outside and play. TV is low tech but does show how we can become unbalanced in our use of time.
trying to post--testing.
I liked the skills addressed in this article. They are important. Instead, of balance with big, wide "real" world out there, I think we need to integrate the core literacy skills into how we teach and the content of what we teach (in other words
the "real world"). Also, I think when we use computer skills sometimes these processes begin to happen naturally. It would be interesting to: 1) tape record students' comments to one another while working on projects on the computer, 2) have students reflect on what they are tinking, and believe they are learning, while
working in groups on problem-solving tasks that involve collective intelligence. Children need to be directly taught strategies that help them be successful. It would be interesting to rewrite these new literacy skills in "kid language" (as opposed to teacher talk) and ask the students under what conditions and assignments they see themselves developing the new literacy core skills. At any rate, I believe that we need to model, directly teach, and give students numerous opportunities to practice reflection on their learning. It's my contention that by nature our society, being so fast paced, doesn't allow for reflection to occur very often.
And, since I see little real learning occurring without reflection, I believe it is my job to "lead by example" in the "how to" of reflection.
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