5TTT

Even though this is not my first blog, I wanted to start with a clean slate - specifically for the 5TTT program, just so I can keep it all in one place. The 5TTT (5 Tech Teaching Tools) program is being offered by the Media Specialist at Park Center, and those of us that are participating are given one task a month to complete, through the end of the year.

The first task for this month was to watch and post the following video:



I'm intrigued by this video, and I agree with a lot of what they are saying. I constantly struggle with the idea of what "learning" means, especially when kids have access to such a wealth of information via the internet. It seems that the idea of memorization (which is not the entirety of schooling) is a bit outdated; if students can look something up in 5 seconds rather than spending at least 5 hours to memorize it, why should they? At the same time, memory is a key part of intelligence - and until computers and the internet are directly hooked up to our brains to store of information that can readily be accessed, it is a skill that needs to be practiced and taught to students. I am not saying we need to make students memorize facts (like the fact that Columbus sailed in 1492) but in order to synthesize information you need to be aware that the information exists.

Another piece that really stood out to me was one of the guys in the video talking about what students need to be able to do:

"...the coin of the realm will be, do you know how to find information, do you know how to validate it, do you know how to synthesize it, do you know how to leverage it, do you know how to communicate with it, do you know how to collaborate with it, do you know how to problem solve with it. THAT'S the new set of 21st century literacies."

BOOM! (That's the sound of my brain exploding). I couldn't have said it better myself. We spent a lot of time in one of my grad school classes (History and Nature of Science) talking about the different ways to teach kids not only how to find GOOD information, but teaching them how to evaluate the information so they know what's good and are able to filter through the mass of slanted/biased/crappy information that's out there as well.

I thought a lot about a mini-project that I did with my students researching water contaminants and their effects (I even collaborated with Dhaivyd to set up a website of resources, and he gave a lesson on databases) and yet all the kids wanted to do was type their question/topic into google and copy down the first resource or resources that gave some semblance of an answer. How will they know if it's good info? Teach them how to evaluate it.

The only statement in the video that didn't sit well with me was when someone said something like, "a shut off device is a shut off student." Not sure I agree with that - and if we ever get to that point, I'm very curious to see what our society is like (I'm imagining the civilization in Wall-E).

Just a quick plug as well - I'm very glad that the video took a shot at standardized testing. It seems like the only ones who don't realize it's hurting/hindering our students is the people who are requiring the tests (aka state and federal legislators). On a lighter note, see this article.




P.S. If you are interested, feel free to check out my other blog - The Chemist's Corner. I haven't posted much recently, but the blog itself is also about teaching (especially topics I'm thinking about in grad school), but has some science thrown in as well on occasion. Most of the content here will be posted there as well - which might seem silly, but I wanted to use the same blogger program as everyone else for the 5TTT.