Lakeland Technology Department
TechStuff Talks Technology in the Classroom
by Jonathan Strickland | August 20, 2010
Getting tech into the classrooms is just the first -- and maybe easiest -- step (Ableimages/Photodisc/Thinkstock)
Here at HowStuffWorks.com, we value education. Our own mission is to satisfy curiosity and share knowledge with our readers and listeners. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I’ve learned something new every day that I’ve worked here. And as the son of two teachers, I’ve witnessed how educators constantly look for new ways to reach students. One of those ways is through the use of technology.
This week on TechStuff, Chris and I talked about technology in the classroom and whether it will revolutionize education. It’s easy to imagine a futuristic classroom filled with computers, tablets, touch-screen displays and an innovative classroom layout. But would this futuristic vision actually help students learn more effectively?
Chris and I belong to a generation that saw computers first come into the home and later on into schools. By the time the World Wide Web came along, I was out of high school. For us, tools like computers, the Internet and even cellular phones were new and unfamiliar. We had to spend time and effort to learn how to use them. I can’t speak for Chris, but in the back of my mind was the thought that future generations of students would have a huge advantage — they would grow up with these tools and so they’d be familiar with them out of the gate. I could see a future in which these whiz kids would pass me by, possibly saying some sort of futuristic put down as they did so. In my mind it was something like, “Your mother programs in BASIC!”
But maybe I got that wrong. In both our episodes this week, Chris and I referred to an article in Der Spiegelabout kids and the Internet. The article is about a survey that found German students are adept at using the Web to find entertainment or to communicate with one another but lack the skills to use it for more academic purposes. Students don’t have the critical thinking tools necessary to leverage the Web for research. This article really drove home the notion that the most advanced tools are only useful if we learn how to think.
Technology could revolutionize education. There are tools that teachers could use to make lessons more engaging and interactive. One of the big challenges teachers face is to give lessons context — not just teaching students how to do something but why it should be done. Technology may give teachers more options to help them achieve that goal.
Ultimately, revolutionizing education will depend upon teachers and creating a support system that allows them to master these tools before implementing them in the classroom. Expecting teachers to take a new technology and use it effectively without any training is unrealistic. But if we pair the best practices in education with cutting-edge technology, imagine the results we could see.
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