Thing #17 Is google making us dumb?

The articles were both well articulated but I tend to agree with the fact that the way that technology is being used right now is not increasing intelligence. I suggest that you read the articles by Daniel Willingham at http://www.danielwillingham.com/ read the articles on cognition and critical thinking. I was in the middle of his book when Ian Jukes gave his presentation at the performing art center and I couldn't help but think of how dangerous his ideas were. The thing that sticks out the most is the idea of "disposable knowledge." Jukes presented this idea as the wave of the future and that students need to able to interpret information and think critically think about information that is easily obtained ( I highly suggest that you watch the presentation on the rockwallisd homepage). The problem is that this idea directly conflicts with theories of cognition that are currently supported by research. In order to think critically about a topic you must have information stored in your brain and the ability to "think critically" comes from making new new connections about basic information in essence you can't think critically until you learn the material. The 21st century model of don't teach facts teach them how to think is killing our kids because we are asking the impossible.

I also suggest that you watch the youtube video on multi-tasking which gives a good overview of multi-tasking an its detriments. Multitasking just means that you aren't doing anything well you are just constantly changing your focus and not doing any one thing well.

If technology is incorporated in the right way it can be a tremendously powerful tool to teach the information, let students explore the critical thinking aspect, make connections to the real world, and expanding what a traditional classroom can do but it must be incorporated the right way.

It may be cultural to multitask but culture can change