Chapter 2: Students and Learning

“Students [are] digital natives, people who live in a world where technology is omnipresent.  Parents and teachers [are] digital immigrants, well-meaning adults who have to work at being comfortable with technology.” (Solomon, 26).

            Students in today’s world are affected by technology in their lives very much on how they live and communicate, and even when and how they learn.  All the technology helps students very much stay connected and ahead of the curve in learning the new technologies.  However, this can cause concerns for parents and being able to block certain cites.  It can also cause concerns for students with potential job opportunities based on what they might be posting.  Young people are involved in social networks on-line based on their certain likes.  This allows children to feel like they belong to a certain group, even if they are sitting alone at their house. 

 

“The kind of learning students do with these laptops will define how well they will perform the rest of their lives.  Thomas Friedman points out the importance of teaching greater collaboration skills, creating sustainable community of learning, cultivating the entrepreneurial spirit in all, and encouraging synthesis skills” (Solomon, 34).

Six Cognitive Processes of Learning

            1.      Remembering – retrieving, recognizing, recalling
            2.      Understanding – constructing meaning of messages
            3.      Applying – carrying out a procedure
            4.      Analyzing – breaking material into parts
            5.      Evaluating – making judgments
            6.      Creating   - putting elements together

The Knowledge Dimension
            1.      Factual knowledge – knowledge of terminology, details, and elements
            2.      Conceptual (declarative) knowledge – an understanding of the interrelationships among the basic elements
            3.      Procedural knowledge – an understanding of how to do something, methods, criteria
            4.      Meta-cognitive – knowledge of cognition and awareness and knowledge of own’s cognition

 (Solomon, 35).

 

            Constructivism is a learning process where the learner constructs new ideas which are based upon past or current knowledge.  Students build what they learn on the knowledge they already know and collaborate on problems in order to understand.  Project-based learning encourages students to learn through inquiry-based methods and emphasizes learning activities.  The current challenge is harnessing new technologies in the ever-changing world in order to keep students interested and learning.  Digital story telling could become a major factor because it allows students to write blogs, wikis, and podcasts in order to communicate with others.

NETS • S Standard

1.       Creativity and Innovation:  I think this standard applies to the chapter because it allows students to demonstrate creative thinking, construct, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.  It also relates to the chapter because this standard allows students to apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, and processes.       

Citations:
Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0, new tools, new schools. Eugene, OR: Intl Society for Technology in educ.