Why is Everyone Crazy About Bringing in 21st Century Education. Then What About All the Ideas and Works of 20 Centuries???”
In one of the professional organizations I am a member of on Linked In, I read a discussion entitled “Why is everyone crazy about bringing in 21st century education. Then what about all the ideas and works of 20 centuries???”
I think there are two things that need to be addressed in order to answer this question.
• The actual content and curriculum
• Communication style of the curriculum.
In my work, my experience has been that when it comes to the focus and learning of the 21st century student, 21st century kids’ brains are literally wired differently! You can read more about the how and why of it in these two locations:
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technology/21brain.html?pagewanted=all
2. Generation Text, Raising Well-Adjusted Kids in the Age of Instant Everything,” by Dr. Michael Osit.
21st Century media, learning, research and entertainment is interactive and collaborative. Exposure to this has completely altered the effectiveness of prior teaching methods such as text book reading and lecturing. Haven’t you ever heard a student say, “How will I ever use this in real life????” One of the benefits of 21st century style of teaching is that a student will not even think to ask this question! In today’s fast paced, technology-driven society, the methods of communication that were used in the 80's, such as "lecturing" would put anyone to sleep!
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Jill Brown
Generation Text Online
jill.brown@GenerationTextOnline.com
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Westfield Parent
6:34 pm on Friday, August 10, 2012
Another advertising ploy by Jill Brown. Ms. Brown, curious to know if you have a teaching certification?
Monk
8:26 pm on Friday, August 10, 2012
Give it a rest or bring a lawsuit.
Westfield Parent
7:58 pm on Saturday, August 11, 2012
@Monk
Typical of society today to sue someone for no reason. Why would you suggest it? Let me guess, you spilled hot coffee on yourself while attempting to drive a car, talk on the phone, and pick your nose all at the same time and then sued the establishment that served you the coffee. Pitiful.
Gary McCready
3:47 pm on Saturday, August 11, 2012
I don't think the "nature" of kids brains are that different, but they have been "nurtured" differently by all their external influences, especially in a town like Westfield.
There are two big issues with 21st century learning: finding the educators who can relate to those brains and then getting the funding to to present the best educational solutions from them. It is not so much money for new educational technology as the cost to develop or buy a new curriculum, training the teachers to use it, and then most importantly, following up to make sure the decisions and implementation was right. Most of the technology involved is basically free once you get a pc or mac to run it on.
Those ships take a while to turn...