Students are not the same as they were twenty years ago, prior to the digital revolution. They come to the classroom now with experiences from home and with knowledge of digital content has not been taught in a classroom. As a second grade teacher, I see my students using technology in creative and independent ways. I see them maneuver around in a world they built in Minecraft® and talk about how they have “figured out” how to create new worlds, or work through a design problem with a group of peers. These are seven and eight-year-olds talking like graphic designers.
As I stand in front of the classroom talking about biomes, it quickly evolves into a classroom of kids wanting to talk out, yelling to me what they already know about biomes because of something they watched on YouTube. They know the facts because they know where to find the information. So I tell them to go to Minecraft® and build a biome. This creates excitement and engagement. They start talking to each other, collaborating on which world to use, with most choosing to create their biome from a blank template. I hear a lot of “oh yeah!” and “you’re right, that worked!”. They are in their element of learning. It is relevant to them and it has a purpose.
I know as teachers we can not feasibly make every lesson about collaboration due to time constraints and pacing of the curriculum, but as a math teacher, using discovery learning and collaboration where kids are applying and talking about real-world math problems helps them to prepare for math outside of the classroom (Lessani and et. al., 2017). Applying collaboration with or without technology is engaging. Incorporating technology takes it one step further.
In the 20th century, John Dewey warned that traditional methods of teaching need to be changed. The sit-and-get method was not preparing students for the real world (Williams, 2017). Unfortunately, we are not where we need to be yet. Standardized testing and college entrance exams are still the focus in most schools. When will we meet students where they are? When will we focus our energy and attention on the kinds of learners our students have become in the 21st century? What will happen twenty years from now if we are still teaching the same way we taught a hundred years ago?
References
Lessani, A., Suraya Md. Yunus, A., & Bt Abu Bakar, K. (2017). Comparison of new mathematics teaching methods with traditional method. PEOPLE: International Journal of Social Sciences, 3(2), 1285–1297. https://doi.org/10.20319/pijss.2017.32.12851297
[The McArthur Foundation]. (2010, December 12). Rethinking Learning: The 21st Century Learner [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0xa98cy-Rw
Williams, M. K. (2017). John Dewey in the 21st Century. Journal of Inquiry & Action in Education, 9(1), 91-94. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1158258.pdf
Blended Elementary 