In nations with the highest-performing students, classrooms “contain very little tech wizardry,” writes Amanda Ripley on Slate Magazine. “Children sit at rows of desks, staring up at a teacher who stands in front of a well-worn chalkboard,” just like in U.S. classrooms in 1989 or 1959.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Techonology Is A Tool, Nothing More
This does not surprise me at all. In fact, I've been saying it for years:
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3 comments:
The difference is in those nations students are taught 1) the value of education 2) to respect their teachers 3) to take notes and learn from lecture as opposed to all the other teaching techniques we're forced to use today.
darn straight--so much money spent on Gee-Whiz in the classrooms. But the medium is not the message, unless you're a bureaucrat trying to prove that you've done something to improve education, pointing to spiffy new technogadgets in your budget.
In my district, we are evaluated on the "use of technology", so it's pretty much expected.
I think we need to use caution when we label something "most effective" or the "best". Learning (and teaching) comes in all forms. What we should expect to see in any given classroom is what works best for the subject-matter and the students learning that specific subject-matter. And, what works best for some subject-matters, may not be best for others.
We have a class in robotics at my high school. Technology is a necessary, integral part of the curriculum. Now, the psychology class, for instance, could do without the technology.
It really depends. But I don't agree with the article because I'm against the whole "one size fits all" mentality that seems to be invading our schools these days.
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