Blog Post 3

Blog Post 3

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/jp/high-tech-vs-no-tech-schools-take-opposite-approaches-to-education/ (blog)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/high-tech-vs-no-tech-dc-area-schools-take-opposite-approaches-to-education/2012/05/12/gIQAv6YFLU_story_1.html (article)

Interesting aspects from post:

In the same week, about a dozen miles away, another set of sixth-graders is on a similar lesson. Only they are in a spare, birch-hued classroom that looks like a throwback to the Norman Rockwell era. There are no computers here. The only tools being used are spoons and forks tied together with purple yarn. The students listen to the clang of utensils change pitch as the yarn is shortened and lengthened. Nina Auslander-Padgham’s eyes widen with the discovery, and she rushes back to her wooden desk to write her reflections on the blank pages of a red hardcover journal…..The Washington Waldorf School in Bethesda is trying its best to stay unplugged. Its teachers think technology is a distraction and overhyped. They believe children are better taught through real-world experiences in the school’s vegetable garden and woodwork shop. Educators here fear that the immediate gratification of texts and Wikipedia threatens face-to-face communication and original thinking, so they ban cellphones, laptops and tablets and require students to hand-write papers until high school….Some research shows that software programs such as smartphone applications help improve kids’ vocabulary and math. Children ages 3 to 7 who used an app called Martha Speaks increased their vocabulary by as much as 31 percent in two weeks, according to a 2010 study commissioned by PBS. Some educators say technology allows them to personalize teaching plans and offer free online tutoring, a way to break free from cookie-cutter lessons that don’t resonate with every student. On the other hand, child development experts say children are developing shorter attention spans and multi-tasking too much online — habits that will become more ingrained over time. Technology is changing the way kids learn, too; ideas aren’t as original when cobbled together through Google searches and recycled from opinion blogs, teachers at Waldorf say. And students are increasingly skipping over basic disciplines such as spelling and handwriting — practices that have diminished in importance in the workplace but are still key to wiring the young brain, some child-development experts say.—This is an issue with the pull between technology and no technology in schools. Even when schools do not have rules that are as strict school districts are still contemplating with the issue of what is too much technology and what is not enough technology in schools. There are developmental and academic findings related to technology. It will take time to see what happens to our students who are in the “smartphone” age.

Response/Comment to Blog:

The two schools show stark differences in educating. I, as an early childhood educator, can see the pros and cons of each schooling style. Children need to learn how to handwrite, they need to develop their fine motor skills through actually writing and experiencing life, rather than using a touch screen, that requires very few strengthening exercises for fine motor skills. However, when students get older it is important to incorporate technology. When students, who have not been exposed to technology, enter college or the work force they will have a learning curve that many of their counterparts will not. They will have the learning curve of learning how to collaborate and interact with technology. This is much of what we are seeing now with the different generations of teachers. The teachers who are not in a technology age and do not use email and those who are part of the technology age.