A good and very interesting book right now: Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn by Larry D. Rosen, Ph.D. It’s all about how today’s elementary and secondary school students (i.e. MHS students) learn in completely different ways from those of us in … erm … older generations.
Dr. Rosen talks about how kids who have grown up with technologies like cell phones, MySpace, iPods, etc. have learned to learn in a different way. They are compulsive multitaskers and this is why traditional educational techniques can bore them so easily.
Now, it’s not just iGen-ers who are affected by wireless and other technologies. I find myself multitasking more and more, and there are times I wish I had a smart phone (or at least a texting plan … my cell phone plan is very cheap but also very limited). I suffer from Facebook withdrawal when I go on vacation; and I have been known to surf the web while carrying on a Google chat and watching television.
So, what I want to know is: have YOU been rewired? How many different kinds of technology can you use at one time? What wireless/electronic devices do you use regularly? And would you find school more interesting if teachers could use some of these technologies to help you learn?
West Covina High School Library 