How could we rethink our K-12 curriculum for the 21st century, symbiotically combining human strengths with the most powerful technology strengths?
The need for a complete remake of curriculum is the strongest of Prensky’s proposals. “Real life skills”--planning companies, communities, housing, “improving public health, the water [and food] supply,” creating budgets, amortizing, using databases--should be a core focus. I would rather see that Effective Action symbiosis in place of current standards.
For the remainder of his proposals, a symbiotic relationship is difficult to envision.
According to his Effective Thinking, students would be “creating and analyzing their own surveys of worldwide student opinion on current topics.” There is no evidence that this kind of exercise--compiled exclusively by individuals with limited experience in every aspect of life--is a way to really “learn” those higher order thinking skills. Great start, great practice--but limited. He hasn’t proven a symbiosis with the human ability of teachers to build foundational skills for effective thinking. There absolutely needs to be a counterbalance to narcissism--which could now be considered rampant on the Internet.
The focus of his Effective Relationships, that technology would not be “producing people who know more, but on producing people who relate better” confounds me. Absent hard data on this, I cannot suppress the nagging thought that several civilizations--including ours--have historically ”produced people” (what a mechanical, chilling, Orwellian phrase) who are not only highly literate, but relate extraordinarily well to others. They did both out of necessity, and out of adherence to their moral codes. And they did it with limited technology. I firmly believe technology is making people less able to relate well to one another.
Portfolio assessment is logical for Effective Accomplishment, but the brag that “every student’s content knowledge would differ” should not be the standard. As a civilization and culture, if we are to exist, we require a shared foundational content knowledge of some wide scope. Technology could assist in fostering that. Of course our avocations and hobbies dictate that we will all have deeper knowledge of certain subjects beyond a core. Prensky suggests that technology offers something original in that regard, but that’s the way life has always been.
Change is constant and will happen with or without Prensky. Perhaps technology will place a more serious focus on a symbiosis with “real life” learning. And just maybe his shocking proposals are the only way to realize even a modicum of effective reform.
Abbi I like the way you wove Prensky's article into your blog post. I also found value in his Effective action but questioned many other parts of what he found "effective". You brought up a valid point about our civilization producing citizens who have effective relationships and who did so with limited technology. It makes me question the role technology is having on people relating to each other.
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