I remember reading an article concerning education. It was flashy, and it was referring to the “new age” of learning. This article was showing how happy everyone was with the new learning tool which looked like the Nintendo DS but taught these elementary kids everything they needed to know. I was appalled.
Sure, it might be a successful method of teaching these children, but do we really need them to become so dependent of electronics so young? Of course the children love school now, but I think it is ridiculous. This is teaching them that electronics are everything. Are these children ever going to pick up a book? I doubt it.
And what will happen when they move on and grow older? Are they really becoming more prepared for the future? Or are adults being lazy and trying to take the easy way out of teaching children correctly? I thought it was in preschool and kindergarten when we learned how to listen to teachers, but instead they are just growing more attached to these machines. Universities are not taught with flashy, new game toys where you advance levels if you press the right button.
Does anyone disagree with me? Who thinks that this is actually helpful in the long run?
I think for young kids you need to grasp their attention some how, so why not add flashy images to help them stay interested? But will they remember everything they've learned from it? Hmm...I don't know. I grew up with flash cards and booklets while my younger brother and sister grew up with V-tech and computer learning software. They still read books and they get excellent grades. But seriously, from my personal experience of technology; I watch Bill Nye the Science Guy like, every year in Science class, and I don't remember what Bill or the kids in the video said or taught! I only remember what they did. Like when Bill was dressed up like the sun, when the kids did some experiment with dry ice and when those funny music videos appeared halfway through the video, but what was the lesson they were trying to teach? I don't remember......So...I agree with you. Books forever, trash the learning devices!
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need a way to grasp the attention of young children. In my personal opinion we shouldn’t be using technology with the youth, I’m sure it can help in some ways but it makes them understand at such a young age that things are and will forever be easy. Like mentioned above, in a University we don’t get taught with video games. Our society doesn’t know how to do anything without being entertained. This really needs to change. This post just got me thinking of how learning will be in the future. Will we all be taught with advanced computers, etc.? Ok, I’m getting a little ahead of myself, just a thought.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with the fact that children should be taught with human interaction and that it should continue throughout their education. However, I think that we may not be able to stop ourselves from increasing the amount of technology we use. Maybe we ARE preparing the children for the future. If the future is a world where everything is mechanized perhaps teaching them to deal with the machines is good. It just depends on whether we are adapting our children for the future, or if the future will have to adapt for our children.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you on this. People are so dependent on their machines whether they be IPods, tvs, or nintendo ds look-a-likes with "books" on them. How can these children ever truly learn and interact if they spend all their time learning on this machine? Not only will they be socially incapable of being friendly, but they will cease to live among us because let's face it we are slowly turning into a machine fueled world.
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