I laughed when reading the first part of this
article. We wonder why there is an
increase in obesity amongst the youth of America, or even America as a
whole. With all that technological
entertainment in Jacob’s home, I wonder if he is getting his needed one hour of
exercise a day? Even then you’d hope that Jacob could at least get this at
school in PE class. With the amount of technology in students’ lives this maybe
the only time they do get out and exercise. Yet, they want to limit PE and
Health classes in schools? Sorry, that is my bias rant of a future PE teacher
haha.
Anyways, tech would and is valuable at times
when teaching; however, I still feel there are some benefits in the ways “we
were taught.” There needs to be a happy medium and not a dependence on only
one. For example, does the average
student in India know math more in depth than a student in our western
world? I have a friend from India
who could never use a calculator while in school there due to financial
reasons. Whereas myself, I have used a calculator forever, basically dependant
on it when doing math, even the simplest of math. Something as simple as a calculator can restrict students’
learning and advancement; this is why we need to teach both.
You could use technology in science lessons.
There are many interactive computer lessons out there. When I was in science
classes, as students we learned a lot via movies. I feel nowadays with the
technological advancements, you could do something similar with the interactive
lessons, rather than plain old lecture and note taking.
Adam! I find myself agreeing with you that we need to have a mixture of both "old school" and "new school" ways of teaching to be sucessful. I also find that PE is an extreemly important part to school and it is great to get kids being active and healthy. We need to have students become active with physical activity and get them off the couch with all their video games. What ways would you integrate technology into PE? I was wondering if you would ever use a video game that encourages movement?
ReplyDeleteFirst, loved your rant about PE! I definitely agree that technology has caused a rather inactive society of not only older people, but young people who have no desire to go outside and play real sports, but to play them on their video game instead!
ReplyDeleteA combination of both old school and new school is a very good model to follow as teachers. We should provide both a little of what the students want but also need to provide stuff that they need that doesn't include technology. I liked your example of your friend, who is probably better at math than most of us who grew up with calculators and aren't good at mental math. I think that is where the mix comes together.