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Posted by:
Jeff Sun
Research/tech assistance org
Lowell, MA
Topic:
Let Needs Dictate Learning Mode
Message:
There is a place for technology-infused learning, and a place for non-technology-infused learning. I believe that the choice between these two extremes - or more accurately, the choice as to where a learning activity falls on the spectrum between technology and not technology - is one that has to be made on the learning needs of the child in question. Some children under age 8 are probably very well equipped (cognitively, physically, emotionally, etc.) to fully utilize technology tools. Some children are not. Just as I would not force the use of technology on any student, I cannot see a reason to do so with very young children. On the other hand, people(not just children) in our modern world do use technology tools. Why should we take some sort of historical/evolutionary approach to learning that states that children have to onlyuse old technologies (pencils, crayons, etc.) until they reach a certain age? Taken to a ridiculous extreme, this approach - while I have heard in some schools - would argue for the "mastery" of chalkboards before dry-erase marker boards (whiteboards). That's just silly.
Silliness aside, I believe that very young children have a full agenda of social and physical skills to master before they can move on to some of the learning tasks that technology most readily supports. I want my pre-schooler to learn how to share, to learn good manners, and to learn how to express himself verbally all before he learns how to draw a picture on a computer and print it out. If he can do allof those things andlearn how to print, that's great. But in the real world where there is a limited amount of teacher time, I'll choose the social and interpersonal communication skills before the computer skills. I would hope that all parents would make similar choices.
The problem that I have with some of the more vocal opponents of technology in schools is that I think that they are creating false dichotomies. It's as if there is a place where we have only technology-infused learning that makes absolutely no use of technology. While there may be schools that create such environments, I believe that these would be (and obviously should be) both extremely rare and highly undesirable. Such environments would simply not reflect the real world; and if anything, school should reflect an ideal, yet real, world. Computers should exist in elementary schools because computers exist in the world outside of elementary school. Should their use be emphasized in lower grades? Well, probably not.
But I do not think this is an "either/or" situation.
Unfortunately, the public loves dichotomies, false or not. It's so much easier to participate in a debate when there's a clear right or wrong; and as a society. There is so much to discuss and debate in education that it seems to be a colossal waste of time to polarize a debate over a learning tool.
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