Digital Natives, Digital ImmigrantsDo They Really Think Differently?

EDUC 4306.02 – Dr. Dawn Wilson

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

• Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.–Marc Prensky

• Different kinds of experiences lead to different brain structures.–Dr. Bruce D. Perry, Baylor College of Medicine

The Past.

Digital Immigrants

• Not born into the digital world, but have since adjusted to current technology

• Use the internet and technologies as a second content source

• Learn step by step; teach step by step

Old New Digital Immigrants

... 1900, 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2009, …

Times have changed.http://scienceblogs.com/clock/past-present-future.jpg

The Current.

• What the heck is Grandma doing?!?!

Digital Natives

• Technology grown individuals (21st century children)• Use the internet and technologies as their primary

content source• Learn through interaction; can we teach them?

5,000 hours of reading

10,000 hours of video games

10,000 hours of using cell

phones(text messages

included)

20,000 hours of television

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2623572.htm

Do They Really Think Differently?!

According to Marc Prensky:• Neuroplasticity occurs

throughout life• People with different

inputs think differently• As musicians’ brains are

physically different – it is very possible that Digital Natives’ brains are also wired differently

• Digital Natives have “hypertext minds”

Article 1:Simulations, Games, and Learning

According to Diana Oblinger:• Promotes active learning

either real or simulated• Requires personal goals and

decision making• Involves adaptation and

working well with others• Creates stronger logic and

social skills• Mastery of knowledge and

strategic skills

• Connections to Learning include:

SOCIAL

RESEARCH

PROBLEM SOLVINGTRANSFER

EXPERIENTIAL

Article 2:Changing Brains?

• According to Gary Small, M.D.:– More time in one activity =

stronger pathways for executing that activity• Musicians, Athletes

– Internet increases brain’s capacity to be stimulated

– Greater working memory, better at perceptual learning, and better motor skills

http://www.drgarysmall.com/images/cover_iBrain_1.jpg

Gary Small, M.D. Director of the UCLA Memory & Aging Research Center at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior.

Article 2 (cont):Thinking Differently…

• Gary Small M.D. says:– Digital Natives make “snap decisions”

• Can “juggle multiple sources of sensory input”– Digital Immigrant’s brain is trained differently to socialize

and learn• Address individual things one at a time• Step-by-step process

Pros of Technology

• If a “digital native” thinks in a different way… shouldn’t the classroom teach in a different manner as well?

• Provides independent learning• Curriculum available outside the classroom• Stimulates different learning (auditory, visual)• Facilitates different learning (kinesthetic)• Prepares students for today’s world

Cons of Technology

Cons of Technology

Meaningful Learning with Technology

According to David Jonassen:• “Thinking is enhanced when

learning with technology, not from it.”

• Technologies are tools that engage students in deeper levels of thinking and reasoning, including causal, analogical, expressive, experiential, and problem solving.

Virtual Classroom.

http://www.jvkco.net/mrb/technology/classroom.html

References• Interlandi, Jeneen. “Reading This Will Change Your Brain.” Newsweek 14 Oct. 2008.

Retrieved September 14, 2009, from http://www.newsweek.com/id/163924.

• Jonassen, D. H. (2000). Computers as mindtools for schools: Engaging critical thinking. Columbus, OH: Prentice-Hall.

• Prensky, M. (2001a, September/October). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6. Retrieved September 14, 2009, from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf.

• Prensky, M. (2001b, November/December). Digital natives, digital immigrants, part II: Do they really think differently? On the Horizon, 9(6), 1-6. Retrieved September 14, 2009, from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part2.pdf.

• Oblinger, Diana. (2006, May). “Simulations, Games, and Learning.” Retrieved September 14, 2009, from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3004.pdf.