I was taught in a school where “literacy meant the ability to read, write and present cogent arguments on paper.” (Barish, 2009) Sure, there were some teachers that thought outside the box at the time (late 90’s) by making me go out and do my own research but they never pushed me into doing so. To my knowledge there were no “tinkering schools” and if I got something wrong I would definitely be disciplined for it either by a lower grade or punishment by my parents. Of course, a lower grade is a form of accountability for the student and a way for a teacher to evaluate the progress of his or her student and I truly do believe that parents need to encourage their children to do their best. These new tools that are being developed as time goes on can and should definitely be used to help the student and help the teacher keep track of the student’s progress as he or she learns while in school.
I like the idea of play being used as a way to better the students problem solving skills via experimentation. If you mess up, you simply hit the “RESET” button or simply start the game over. What comes to my mind, however, is that if we’re training our kids for a future in the “real world,” they must be aware that failure is a possibility. I saw that failures did happen in the Tinkering School video and they problem solved their way out of that failure, which is great! But not everything is about fun and games. We as adults know that life can be boring and difficult and we must use these tools to prepare them for that as well. School should be fun and well rounded, sure. However, a school should also teach a student about the realities of the future, one of which should include that life has no “RESET” button and sometimes you can’t start a level over.
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Carlos, I have to agree with you about the question, "What is the best way to implement new methods of learning" or the using of technology for children's learning; I think sometimes we can get way ahead of ourselves and let's face not all kids will do what they are supposed to do. In my opinion, you can integrate some things but not all, of course, it's different when you go into specialized fields, i.e. programming, and like in your case.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a time for everything, the last thing that teachers/professors should do is bore someone with their teaching and I know to some extent these new avenues can be exciting but you have to weigh out the benefits with the drawbacks. Some of my best classes were as a result of having a passionate teacher for the subject they were teaching.
I might be way off here, maybe I need some convincing and insight on the creative ways of implementing these tools into teaching.
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I see what you're saying, Arjelia. When a teacher has passion about what they're teaching it definitely shows and excites their students for sure. Most of these tools here deal with collaboration and using our existing technology to further enhance the educational experience. Sure, these tools are new, but the idea of using what is currently being used has been around for generations but has somehow been lost. At least in my opinion they have been. When a teacher who is passionate about teaching learns new ways to teach, why not let them if it gets across to the students? My biggest concern, as you can tell, is accountability, which is overlooked when exciting new technologies are introduced. Everything has benefits and drawbacks, I think we should should something if the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
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