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- Subject: n-1-4-020.05
-
- Use of Technology and Education:
- What to teach? How to learn?
-
- by Oscar Becerra T. <BR1BEO@pervm1.vnet.ibm.com>
-
- I would try to share with you some thoughts and ideas regarding the use
- of computers in general, and INTERNET in particular, in the educational
- process, most of these ideas came while working with teachers, parents,
- school officers and, most important, children. A great part of the process
- that lead into the generation of these ideas was done using INTERNET and
- therefore this report will try to "show the way by walking it rather than
- tell how nice it would be to walk".
-
- First of all some basic assumptions I find important to stress:
-
- o The observed outcome of the educational process after 12-14 years (k-10
- or k-12 depending on the educational system) is that most of what has been
- taught is forgotten. There is even a book named "All I really need to
- know I learned in Kindergarten".
-
- o Most of what we learned and never forgot was learned in a non-structured
- way (i.e. taught by peers due to an immediate need to know instead of taught
- by teachers in a classroom)
-
- o There is a structural difference between the natural way of learning things
- and the school way: In the natural way you take a comparatively small amount
- of time and effort to learn and you enjoy the power given by this new know-
- ledge for a long time, examples of this are: learning to walk, to ride a bi
- cycle, to play chess, reading and writing, etc.
-
- In the school way you take a long time to learn
- but no time to enjoy the power (nor the opportunity to understand if there
- is any) given by the new knowledge, examples: Thales theorem, balancing of
- chemical equations, parts and writing of letters, etc. The natural way is
- life oriented, the school way is test oriented, so after the test you may
- forget about it, moreover you will only remember the awful time spent try
- ing to learn, meanwhile in the natural way the power enjoyed by the
- apprentice because of the new knowledge dwarfs the awful time spent
- learning.
-
- o Technology (computer, telecommunications, TV, etc.) is not a goal in itself,
- therefore the question: What is the effect of the use of technology in
- education is the wrong one? as well as plans to teach about technology.
- The final objective of putting technology in the classroom is to make it
- a better place to learn, not a better place to teach.
-
- o Teaching is focused on making life easier for the teachers, learning is
- focused in making students better for life. The objective of the education
- process should be to better prepare the students to live in the real world.
- Whether this objective can be measured by any kind of predeveloped test is
- another question.
-
- Based on those basic assumptions here are some guidelines for using technology
- in the educational process. Again what follows is the result of
- experience and of observing what children like best at school and what
- kind of things are those they really learn:
-
- o Don't teach about computers unless it's inevitable, let children play
- with them and give them plenty of opportunities to ask how to obtain
- the results they want. They will sure learn more about computers this
- way and enjoy it at the same time.
-
- o Use tools that children can master easily and use for a long time. My
- favourite one is Logowriter, you can teach how to use it in five minutes
- to a 5 year older (it will take longer with adults) and he/she will enjoy
- it for life.
-
- o Let the children 'do whatever they want to' with the new tools and give
- them more when the ones they master are not enough to do what they want.
-
- o If children are learning to or already know how to read, let them use
- a word processor. Again
- don't worry about the fancy features (centering, underscoring, highlighting)
- of the WP but in the content of what the children want to express, here
- is where INTERNETworking is extraordinarily powerful as an educational
- tool. Children will be asking for Geography, History, Environmental
- and Political concepts much of the time well beyond the reach of
- curriculum requirements.
-
- o Once the basics are mastered (2 or three months are usually enough) have
- the children work on projects of their own that may be related to the
- curriculum content.
-
- o About grade two, the need for keyboarding skills might be evident and
- acquiring it may be offered to those interested. Don't forget most tea-
- ching methods for keyboarding have been developed thinking in older people
- who think and learn differently, therefore follow your intuition with more
- confidence than the instructor manual of the keyboarding package you've
- bought (this suggestion is valid for teachers teaching keyboarding to
- children not for programmers teaching anything to children).
-
- o Let children share what they learn with others, don't grade the computer
- class (anybody remembers a bicycling test after learning how to ride?).
- be attentive with what they want to do, not what you want to teach.
-
- These are general guidelines and following them we expect children to integrate
- the computer as part of their culture and be able to develop projects related
- to curriculum areas by grade three. The projects will gain in complexity
- as time goes by and the need for some more advanced tools (advanced in the
- sense of computer software technology). In the process teachers will be
- seen as advisors and helpers in the acquiring of desired skills which will
- help the whole education process
- because interest in traditional school issues will enhance.
-