So, who had any idea that the fastest growing age group in techno-savvyness are 2-5 year olds? My goodness, but it makes sense, and is good in that they are getting some learning in prior to the school instruction, as well as setting a foundation of computer use in general. But all this does lead me to wonder.. If this is the largest growing age group that has access and interaction with technology, why are we still so worried that our school age children do not have access to their own computers? The claim seems rather silly after reading the anticipated statistic.
Another point of interest about the now read/write web was that it has changed how children think. Richardson says their minds are "parallel, not sequential." I understand sequential, in terms of how to think and organize information, but parallel.. I'm still hazy. I understand that they have multiple connections, and one thought or topic directly leads to the next (which isn't so far off my own thinking, and I think is beneficial and best practice in teaching- to connect information to students' background knowledge), but the term "parallel" doesn't make much sense to me.
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Hey Sara,
ReplyDeleteI don't understand exactly what the parallel thinking means either, but I do think we need to be aware that students aren't necessarily going to fit right into the traditional educational setting. It's up to educators to meet the students where they are, so it's good to know we may not be in the same places!
I was really surprised that 2-5 year olds were so in to technology, too. Based on my experiences, I figured that school-aged children knew a lot about technology but I had no idea that toddlers were already being introduced to it! You brought up a good point, though. It will definetly help prepare them even more for when they begin school.
ReplyDeleteIn Kindergarten student teaching I always wished the students came knowing their ABCs, the more prep the better.
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