In one of the professional organizations I am a member of on Linked In, I read a discussion entitled, “Why is everyone crazy about bringing in 21st century education. Then what about all the ideas and works of 20 centuries???”
I think there are two things that need to be addressed in order to answer this question.
• The actual content and curriculum
• Communication style of the curriculum.
In my work, my experience has been that when it comes to the focus and learning of the 21st century student, 21st century kids’ brains are literally wired differently! You can read more about the how and why of it in these two locations:
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/technolog/21brain.html?pagewanted=all
2. Generation Text, Raising Well-Adjusted Kids in the Age of Instant Everything,” by Dr. Michael Osit.
21st Century media, learning, research and entertainment is interactive and collaborative. Exposure to this has completely altered the effectiveness of prior teaching methods such as text book reading and lecturing.
Haven’t you ever heard a student say, “How will I ever use this in real life?” One of the benefits of the 21st century style of teaching is that a student will not even think to ask this question! In today’s fast paced, technology driven society, the methods of communication that were used in the 80s, such as "lecturing," would put anyone to sleep!
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Jill Brown
Generation Text Online
jill.brown@GenerationTextOnline.com
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