ITS REAL Teaching Students Today for the Future

What’s Up with These Kids?  Dress differently  Talk differently  Act differently  Think differently

How are Digital Kids Different?  Our world was Low Tech Basic communications Basic communications Information was limited Information was limited Doing research was a physical act Doing research was a physical act  Their world is High Tech Cell phones, Instant messenger, , video games Information glut Research is a few clicks of a mouse button

How are Digital Kids Different?  Today, 64% of kids come home from school to no one  New digital gizmos have become the babysitter, the constant companions, and best friends for many kids.  Digital kids are as comfortable with virtual, screen-to-screen relationships as they are with face-to-face relationships.

How are Digital Kids Different?  Digital input has had a huge effect on kids thinking patterns. They operate at “Twitch Speed.” They operate at “Twitch Speed.”  Author Richard Saul Wurman estimates that today’s college grads have spent: 10,000 hours playing video games 10,000 hours playing video games 20,000 hours watching TV 20,000 hours watching TV over 20,000 hours talking on the phone over 20,000 hours talking on the phone countless hours listening to music, surfing the Web, using Instant Messenger, chat rooms and . countless hours listening to music, surfing the Web, using Instant Messenger, chat rooms and . But they’ve only spent 5,000 hours reading and 11,000 hours attending school!

How are Digital Kids Different?  Eighty-two percent of American kids play video games on a regular basis - an average of 8.2 hours a week.  Today’s kids have access to computers, remote controls, the Internet, , pagers, cell phones, MP3 players, CDs, DVDs, video games, Palm Pilots and digital cameras.  Today’s kids, the Millennium generation, have never experienced a time where these digital wonders haven’t existed.

Summarizing the real digital divide…  Digital Native learners prefer receiving info quickly from multiple multimedia sources receiving info quickly from multiple multimedia sources parallel processing and multi-tasking parallel processing and multi-tasking processing pictures, sounds and video before text processing pictures, sounds and video before text random access to hyperlinked multimedia information random access to hyperlinked multimedia information  Many teachers prefer slow and controlled release of info from limited sources. singular processing and one thing at a time to provide text before pictures, sounds and video to provide information linearly, logically and sequentially

Summarizing the real digital divide  Digital Native learners prefer interact/network simultaneously with many others interact/network simultaneously with many others to learn “just-in-time” to learn “just-in-time” instant gratification and instant rewards instant gratification and instant rewards learning that is relevant, instantly useful and fun learning that is relevant, instantly useful and fun  Many teachers prefer students to work independently rather than network and interact prefer to teach “just- in-case” (it’s on the exam). deferred gratification and deferred rewards. to teach to the curriculum guide and standardized tests.

What Should We Do?  Accept the fact that we’re DSL  Pay attention to what the research is telling us. Use the brain research and what cognitive psychology has shown us about learning to make sound educational decisions for our kids Use the brain research and what cognitive psychology has shown us about learning to make sound educational decisions for our kids  Implement rigorous curriculum and effective instructional models

Schools must become a place where students are actively engaged in constructing their own knowledge and know how, develop an understanding and the ability to apply key content concepts and ideas, explore dynamically, discover, pose questions and question answers, solve problems, engage in complex tasks that enable them to address essential questions and participate in the processes that make up intellectual accomplishment, tasks that are generally inquiry driven, span different media, link different disciplines, have more than one right answer, multiple routes to each of these answers, an understandable purpose and a connection to the real world outside school. Ian Jukes Understanding Digital Kids