August 2006 • Volume 10 • Number 1 • Page 22
When Digital Natives Come
to School
Brenda A. Dyck
Marc Prensky has made
it his business to examine the new breed of
learner that enters the classroom each day
and has sent a clear message to educators:
The students in your classroom don't just
look different than they did a
decade ago, they are radically
different.
As
the first generation of students to grow up
surrounded by and using digital media comes
through our classroom doors we must realize
that their almost constant interaction with
technology has caused them to think and
process information differently than
students did 10 years ago. Applying this
knowledge has profound implications for
teachers who grew up with technology no more
advanced than the television and the VCR.
Prensky calls today's
digital learners Digital Natives
and the adults in their lives Digital
Immigrants—people who are trying to
adapt to the new learning environment but
who always have one foot in the past and
retain their "accent" or natural tendency to
address learning as they did in the past.
This immigrant status can cause teachers to
make curriculum choices that lack relevancy
to their students and to miss using
technology in meaningful, forward- thinking
ways.
Prensky suggests that
this misuse of technology is no joking
matter since schools are full of digital
immigrant instructors who are struggling to
teach a population that speaks "an entirely
new language." This may explain today's
students' lack of appreciation and affinity
for the skills that their teachers are so
proficient at, such as writing neatly,
memorizing facts, and doing one task at a
time.
Thankfully, Prensky
has some advice to offer digital immigrant
instructors so that the learning mark isn't
missed with their students. Teachers need to
learn how to
- Communicate in
the language and style of their students
by learning how to implement a faster
paced, more interactive style of
presentation.
- Teach both
traditional curriculum (reading,
writing, arithmetic, reading
comprehension, history, logical
thinking) and the content of the future
(ethics, politics, sociology, languages,
diversity of thought). The merge of
these two areas will occur most
effectively if teachers take advantage
of their platform of choice: emerging
technologies.
- Invent games—and
invite students to invent games—to teach
all subjects. It's not that difficult
and is an easy way to engage students in
their own learning.
- Don't ask whether
technology can be used to teach
effectively, ask how it can be used.
Prensky is so adamant
about how computers and computer games can
help students think and learn, he launched a
Web site, GamesParentsTeachers.com.
It's full of games and resources to help
teachers and parents tap into students' love
of gaming.
Brenda A.
Dyck is a teacher at Masters
Academy and College in Calgary, Alberta,
Canada.
Resources
- Digital Natives,
Digital Immigrants
www.marcprensky.com
- Digital Natives:
Do They Really Think Differently?
www.marcprensky.com
- Digital
Games-based Learning
www.twitchspeed.com
-
GamesParentsTeachers
www.gamesparentsteachers.com
- The Impact of
Digital Games in Education
www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_7/xyzgros/index.html
Copyright © 2006 by
National Middle School Association
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