Yes, I know a lot about educational technology. That’s why I’m in TICAL. But when it comes to programming, to developing software and interactive website content, I am not even in the ballpark. So I must admit I was impressed when I learned that an 11 year-old boy and his 9 year-old brother successfully developed and marketed a 99-cent iPod “app” to help kids memorize math facts.
A creative school project? Nope. The kids learned how to do this by going online and finding the information needed, by themselves, not a teacher or principal in sight. The older brother “poured over college level computer-science textbooks” to gain the programming skills and the younger brother used Photoshop® to make the icons for the game.
Obviously, these two lads have a lot on the ball, but that’s beside the point. There is a lesson here for our public education system. If two bright kids can learn to build iPod apps without a teacher holding them on a tight leash, what might the kids in our classrooms learn if we loosened the leash, gave them the tools, and guided them to their own discoveries?
Quite a bit, I think. For example, give kids access to their social studies textbook online and task them with creating a written report about one of the ancient cultures such as Rome or Mesopotamia. Then have them summarize that report into a PowerPoint® presentation that they share with their classmates. We actually did this at my school. The teacher never was involved other than to provide some guidance along the way. No lecture, no worksheets. The project was not assigned for homework, yet the kids chose to work on it at home. By the time they finished, these students could tell you all about the culture they studied without once looking at their notes.
Yes, they did have to know how to go online, how to summarize information, and how to use PowerPoint®. These are ways the teacher provided support and guidance. But I think the idea is clear: today’s kids can go find information and use it in pursuit of their own learning. We need to give them the opportunity. We need to quit lecturing and worksheeting and start blogging and tweeting. We need to trade in the choke collars for a clear vision of how students learn in today’s world.
Great example of student innovation. Wish I had an iPhone to check it out.
Hey, just let go of the leash…As an instructional technology coach and former classroom teacher, I cannot agree more with what you are suggesting in your article. I fully support allowing students to pursue their own learning and the teacher acting as a facilitator or mentor. Of course, we need safeguards (maybe a wireless fence), but we have to barge into the 21st century by allowing students to learn the way they need to learn. Convincing some teachers to let go is a challenge, but in my position, I’m seeing more and more teachers opening their minds and loosening their own leashes. Here is a site that includes some apps that can be applied in the classroom- enjoy http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/lesson_plans.html
I am constantly amazed by the inginuity and competitiveness that many of our youth have. I agree that the leashes that contain and smother our youth need to be loosened so that the creativity that has brought America so far may continue to propell us into the future. The industrial dark ages that our education system was orriginally designed for. Try watching the Pink Floyd video “another brick in the wall” with this mindset and think about it.