Technology & Thinking: Part I

The teacher of the 21st century must be multi-talented in delivering and guiding instruction. The world is changing at a breath-taking rate in information, skills, and needs. In order to meet these demands, two of the foci today for how the 21st century teacher instructs are in the domains of technology and cognition: The 21st century teacher must challenge students to utilize technology to construct knowledge and problem solve.

First, the selective use of technology tailored to student need is a vital vehicle for 21st century teachers to deliver content in this 21st century and for 21st century students to construct/create their own learning. Access to information is unprecedented and is increasing literally daily. The 21st century teacher must stay current with the new technological developments and their educational applications. These new trail-blazing, technological paths bring learning into the world of the 21st century student. They cannot move, live, or breathe without technology!!

In my honors class we do a 24-hr. famine of technology during our cautionary, sci-fi unit because so many sci-fi authors fear the ramifications of technology, like Ray Bradbury. Interestingly enough, students come back the next day after no I-Pod, texting, cell phones, radios, TV, computer, facebook, etc. describing symptoms of withdrawal, as though they were addicts: irritated, sleepy, arguing, frustrated. I have seen in U.S. News and World Report the new cell phone implant into the scalp and can believe these kids would love it!! Yikes!

However, rather than fighting the techie trend totally, 21st century teachers must utilize it in the classroom through internet school news, class websites and wikis, social networks (approved and private), google voice aps (voice turned to text), online surveys (surveymonkey.com and google), interactive white boards, webcams for document editing and podcasts, student response systems like Activote, and more. By moving into their world, no longer will they perceive eduation as archaic but a real-world experience of the lifelong learner.

Secondly, the 21st century teacher must strategically develop higher-level thinking, both divergent and convergent. By fostering curiosity (divergent thinking) and problem-solving (convergent), creativity develops. When questioned, many CEOs today of Fortune 500 companies said that creativity would be the number one trait employers would be looking for in the next decade because of the changing nature of information and skills. This global, or molar, perspective seeks for the right tools to deconstruct a problem, brainstorms multitudes of solutions, selects the right one, and carries through (Csikzsentzmihalyi, 1990).

The Global Achievement Gapby Tony Wagner emphasizes the need for curiosity and creativity and indicts the educational system as the main culprit for killing both! His stats say 70% of students who drop out say they were bored. I know from my personal online survey that almost 100% of the struggling readers in 9th grade, who are the most likely ones to drop out, say they are totally bored reading. And reading is the foundational skill and gateway to success in most courses and in careers. According to Csikzsentzmihalyi (1990), if skill and challenge are not balanced, boredom or frustration occurs. For example, if the challenge is too high for the skill, frustration is the result; conversely, if the skill is too high for the challenge, boredom occurs. The 21st century teacher must help students balance this equation to develop curiosity, interest, and creativity.