Monday, December 19, 2005

Do They Really Think Differently? by Marc Prensky

In Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants: Part II, Marc Prensky suggests our children today are being socialized in a way that is vastly different from their parents. The numbers are overwhelming: over 10,000 hours playing video games, over 200,000 emails and instant messages sent and received; over 10,000 hours talking on digital cell phones; over 20,000 hours watching TV (a high percentage fast speed MTV), over 500,000 commercials seen—all before the kids leave college. And, maybe, at the very most, 5,000 hours of book reading. These are today’s “Digital Native” students.

In Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants: Part I, he discusses how the differences between our Digital Native students and their Digital Immigrant teachers lie at the root of a great many of today’s educational problems. I suggested that Digital Natives’ brains are likely physically different as a result of the digital input they received growing up. And I submitted that learning via digital games is one good way to reach Digital Natives in their “native language.”

2 comments:

Dave said...

They still get beaten the same way we did when we were young, "analog beatings," as I refer to them. This should help level the field between educator and student.

Unknown said...

Agreed. Stop back. His video (just added) is worth the watch.