海角大神

For a new report, the聽Pew Internet Project聽surveyed and held focus groups with more than 2,000 middle and high school teachers in the Advanced Placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) communities and found that 77 percent feel 鈥渢he Internet and digital search tools have had a 鈥榤ostly positive鈥� impact on their students鈥� research habits, but 87 percent say these technologies are creating an 鈥榚asily distracted generation with short attention spans鈥�.鈥�

Almost two-thirds of the teachers (64 percent) said today鈥檚 digital technologies 鈥榙o more to distract students than to help them academically鈥�.鈥�

Many of the teachers surveyed are probably amazing educators 鈥� like the ones Matt Richtel of the聽New York Times聽interviewed for his coverage of the study: Hope Molina-Porter, who has taught for 14 years and cares enough about her students to adjust to changing conditions, and 4th-grade teacher Dave Mendell, who said 鈥渋t was tougher to engage students, but that once they were engaged, they were just as able to solve problems and be creative as they had been in the past.鈥�

But do stop and think about this data. Thankfully, Mr. Richtel did. High up in the article, he wrote that researchers pointed out their findings represent subjective views and that 鈥渟cholars who study the role of media in society say no long-term studies have been done that adequately show how and if student attention span has changed because of the use of digital technology.鈥�

But there鈥檚 so much more to think about, and I hope that, out of respect for our children, parents and educators will give this even more thought. Here are a few more things I think we need to think about, whether or not you agree with me鈥�.

So students are changing. Is this a bad thing? We鈥檙e聽all聽changing, and a lot of things around us are changing too, not just technology.聽

As for technology, it鈥檚 apparently rewiring our brain. The thing is, it always has 鈥� since the beginning of time, at least since Socrates, who 鈥渟tarted what may have been the first technology scare,鈥澛燼uthor Jonah Lehrer wrote聽in the New York Times, referring to the invention of the book.

And our brains are聽constantly聽being rewired by all kinds of things, not just technology. 鈥淏eing online does change your brain, but so does making a cup of tea,鈥� wrote聽University of Sheffield researcher Tom Stafford聽at BBC.com.

What hasn鈥檛 changed as much as us聽and our technology is school. So here鈥檚 a thought: How about adjusting teaching and school to our changing students, culture, workplace, and society instead of somehow dialing students back to the way our generation learned (in school)?

Do we really want to make our children conform to the way students used to be 鈥� to the way聽飞别听used to be? I imagine a lot of adults do want that. But we adults were information consumers and memorizers. They are information hunter-gatherers (as media professor Henry Jenkins put it years ago) who don鈥檛 need to memorize anything (it鈥檚 all at their fingertips 24/7).

What they need more than anything is to learn how to聽filter聽that information, to glean what鈥檚 of value. Thankfully, the Pew study indicates teachers really get that part: 鈥淥verall, the vast majority of these teachers say a top priority in today鈥檚 classrooms should be teaching students how to 鈥榡udge the quality of online information鈥�,鈥� but I hope not just online information!

What students will tell you聽is that a lot of the information presented at school doesn鈥檛 interest them.

Students may have been saying this for generations, but what鈥檚 different now is that they are聽awash聽in information that聽is聽of great interest to them outside of school, and it鈥檚 instantly accessible (except at school, if they haven鈥檛 gotten around the filtering with their cellphones).

We didn鈥檛 have that choice. We could dream about what we鈥檇 do in our futures, but today鈥檚 students can write code, publish an e-book, produce videos, develop a following, get professional coaching, teach guitar on YouTube, take a Web-based MIT class, collaborate on projects, join fellow activists, etc. 鈥� whenever they want. That has to make it even harder for them than it was for us to sit through Algebra 2.

Possible conflict of interest?聽Many teachers 鈥� particularly those focused on long-standing measures of academic performance (e.g., AP teachers) 鈥� are invested in the education status quo.

So I wonder about the value of polling people about something that threatens the status quo. To her credit, referring to the teachers surveyed, the Pew report鈥檚 lead author, Kristen Purcell, said 鈥渢he label of distraction is a judgment of this generation,鈥� Richtel reported, and 鈥渁cknowledged that the findings could be viewed from another perspective: that the education system must adjust to better accommodate the way students learn,鈥� which was brought up by some teachers in focus groups.

And media use is just 鈥渆ntertainment鈥�?!聽I find this really disturbing and disrespectful of students. One teacher asks in the Times piece, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 going to happen when they don鈥檛 have constant entertainment?鈥� That鈥檚 a question a lot of adults have, I know, but it鈥檚 based on the mistaken assumption that what media was to us when we were young is what today鈥檚 media is to our children. That鈥檚 simply not the case.

And yet a whole study 鈥� a second survey of educators the Times covers, by Common Sense Media, uses the term 鈥渆ntertainment media鈥� throughout, and respondents were asked questions using that term rather than the more neutral term 鈥渕edia鈥� or 鈥渄igital media,鈥� prejudicing responses.

For聽Finding No. 1, Common Sense reports, 鈥淲hen asked about a range of specific academic skills, teachers are much more likely to say entertainment media have hurt rather than helped those skills.鈥�

Virtually all media were included in the study鈥檚 definition of the term 鈥� including apps, computer programs, social network sites, videos, and texting. Like you, probably, I use all of those in my work. Certainly sometimes for entertainment too, but how is it respectful to assume the same media that is a blend of work and play for adults is just entertainment for youth? A past much-publicized聽study聽of theirs represented children largely as media "consumers."

Some improvements actually cited. And credit goes to teachers who saw positive signs amid the 鈥渆ntertainment media鈥� use.

The Times reported that 鈥渢he surveys include some findings that appear contradictory. In the Common Sense report, for instance, some teachers said that even as they saw attention spans wane, students were improving in subjects like math, science and reading,鈥� the Times reported.

So there we have plenty on teachers鈥� views. Clearly we need more research on students.鈥� I hope that鈥檚 in the works.

Related links

• Another expert calling on schools to change: In聽PsychologyToday.com, California State University psychology professor Larry Rosen wrote that 鈥渢he new, realistic technologies and how they lead to a strong sense of 鈥榩resence鈥� which can be used to engage young learners. It is not a coincidence that most children鈥檚 movies are being shown in 3-D. iGeners are the most technologically immersed generation and just watching the intense look on their faces as they play video games, text all day long, Skype, Facebook, watch YouTube videos, and juggle a dozen websites at a time, it is clear that they are engaged. Now, we need to rewire education to take the home iGen lifestyle and transfer it into the classroom.鈥�

• And in this聽blog post,聽teacher Ben Grey asks, 鈥淲hy does there remain such a fascination with teaching kids very specific technology skills in our schools today?鈥� That would be the new 鈥渟hop class,鈥� right, Ben?

• 鈥淎n open letter to tech-fearing teachers everywhere鈥澛爄ndicates that some teachers have the misconception that they鈥檙e under pressure to teach students technology. That鈥檚 not it at all. Students use technology to discuss, present, collaborate on, summarize, do research for, get quizzed on what they鈥檙e learning, and that鈥檚 only a small sampler of tech鈥檚 uses in classrooms.

• 鈥淲oWing Language Arts鈥澛爄n The Journal about the breadth of learning students are experiencing in World of Warcraft in school 鈥� learning folklore through literature (e.g., Beowulf), vocabulary, socialization, time management, leadership and digital literacy 鈥� facilitated by teacher Peggy Sheehy at Suffern Middle School in New York (she elaborates in a video on page 26 of the article).

• The Australia-based聽Massively Minecraft Guild: 鈥渁 learning community for kids and their parents [that's] exploring how to live, work and play in聽Minecraft,鈥� a digital environment game where people individually or collaboratively use LEGO-like virtual blocks to build just about anything they can imagine. It can be either a creative or a survival game with monsters that come out at night. As of this writing, its makers say that 鈥渟o far 42,098,3157 people have registered and 7,531,314 people bought the game,鈥� with someone new registering about every second, apparently.

• A collective of educators聽鈥� 鈥淕AME鈥� (for Gamers Advancing Meaningful Education) 鈥� talk about their work in a new series of Webinars on YouTube, 鈥淚t Takes a Guild,鈥� starting聽here. Part two of the series, with teacher Marianne Malmstrom in New Jersey, is聽here.

• How BYOT (or BYOD), as in technology in the service of learning, works in a聽Georgia school district.

• Minecraft in School聽鈥� a video of students鈥� work from a聽class聽developed by instructional technology coordinator Lucas Gillispie and teacher Craig Lawson in North Carolina, who have been collaborating with teacher Peggy Sheehy in New York on creating spaces in Minecraft and聽World of Warcraft聽for students to experience both so-called formal learning and informal learning (including social literacy).

• About a highly publicized聽2010 study of children鈥檚 media use.

海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of the best family and parenting bloggers out there. Our contributing and guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor, and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs.聽Anne Collier is editor of NetFamilyNews.org, a blog, RSS feed, and e-mail newsletter that focuses on "kid-tech news for parents.鈥澛�