I had to read this article a couple of times as it was making me anxious. According to the author, Marc Prensky, school is the place where kids are less engaged; but it is thorough video games and technology that our children feel motivated and challenged to learn. How did this happen?
As the author describes video games he uses words and phrases like:
”Explore…” “Don’t work alone.” “Challenging” “Build…” “Perform…” “Research…” “Lead…”
He points out that these words are not part of a regular classroom! The article makes me reflect on curriculum design and my teaching. Part of me feels this is a strong biased point; which suggests one solution to engage students. I believe there are teachers out there who inspire and challenge students without having access to technology. There has to be a balance. On the other hand, as teachers we have to help our children to become problem solvers and team workers in this new millennium; so maybe this is part of the solution.
So; I am left with two thoughts in my mind. I definitely want to engage my students. I am fortunate to work in a system that offers me the tools to take the initiative; but this is not a “one man show” it is definitely team work, it takes collaboration and agreement on a new philosophy of teaching; as a consequence I agree curriculum is the first step to this new challenge.
Secondly, a thought in the back of my mind; I ask myself, is this article describing a utopian system? This is definitely targeted to a privileged group….what happens to the other millions of children around the world who still want to be engaged?
Ref: “Engage me or Enrage Me”: What Today’s Learners Demand
(Marc Prensky)
Landfill Harmonic
11 years ago
I agree there needs to be a balance and Prensky is known for pushing games. I do think there needs to be a balance but at the same time, we need to understand what engages students. It is now estimated that over half of the worlds population has a cell phone. That's some 3.8 Billion cell phones in the world. This piece of technology alone is engaging our society differently. No longer do we call a place....we call a person. How many of your students have a cell phone? Is there a way we could use this simple piece of technology in the classroom to engage students in active learning?
ReplyDeleteGaby - stay the course in questioning everything! Of course we need to test these new technologies, but we need to stay grounded in reality. Read my post at http://edgingahead.edublogs.org/2008/09/14/devils-advocate/
ReplyDelete