My six-year-old got off the school bus Friday afternoon holding a library book wide open in front of him. It was about electricity, and he spent the weekend asking friends, neighbors and grandparents if they had any of the components to contribute to his "project." Wouldn't you know it, by Sunday afternoon the little guy had built his first working circuit in the garage, and he can tell you clearly why it all works (and figure out what's wrong if it's not working) - keep in mind that this is a kindergarten student with limited reading skills! It was a reminder that self-led learning is often the most meaningful, but usually missing from public schools.
I found the following article while just browsing through some readings this morning. The author shares how his daughter, then his entire family, embarked upon a self-led exploration of art making, art history and critique quite by accident! Using nothing but the internet, the entire family is now researching and selecting their favorite artists to study through reading and making art in a similar technique. This family is learning about different time periods, countries and cultures, and even diseases while pushing their own abilities to experiment with art. The best part its that they are using a FREE technological resource that is literally at the fingertips of most Americans. Will all teens or tweens be on fire about art? Probably not, but they can find something that they share an interest in.Can all young people explore what excites them, such as music, literature, science, math or electricity via the internet? Absolutely, and as the author of this article wrote, "the internet is filled with distractions, but if used wisely and focused, the world is truly at our fingertips." My next step will be to help my six-year-old look up more simple electrical experiments on the internet, and to make sure I can design a chunk of time in my future classroom to let my art students explore on their own and share what they learn.
TECHNOLOGY BRINGING KIDS CLOSER TO CLASSIC ART
Laura, children these days are learning so fast. It is amazing to see how they handle these new devices that we are still having trouble understanding. A 3 year-old in my church was playing with his dad's iphone this past Sunday and doing simple subtraction and addition problems and I was simply in shock. In the same way, our students, which are going to be a lot older, can do the same thing. I believe that the reason why kids are so attracted to technology is because of their inner passion for exploring the unknown. They love learning and putting things into practice, and I think that we can use this passion to our benefit in Art and also in English. I think that you are completely right, a person can learn anything through the web, from how to drive, to how to make a beautiful masterpiece and therefore, we should use this amazing tool to our definite advantage.
ReplyDeleteLaura,
ReplyDeleteThis article was really great. I think it was interesting to hear from a parent that is mutually learning as their child is learning from such a young age. I went to a family dinner a few weeks ago and noticed this very learning taking place despite the children running and screaming everywhere. I saw that they were playing DrawSomething, an smart phone app where you can guess friends' drawings, with their parents. The children were 4 and 5 year olds playing on their iPhones, and other tablet like devices. I thought this was interesting because it brings technology into a parental and child relationship, while still keeping it fun and light but allowing the children to learn something. I also noticed a few weeks ago while tutoring my READ 411 student, her younger sister age 8 was using a computer program called KidPix 4. This program was amazing. She proceeded to tell me that her father often plays different games with her using this program. It is this graphically charged art project that can visually display words as well as create videos, play games, etc. I thought it was so interesting, I adopted it into my lesson plan analysis. There are so many amazing technological advances out there and they continue to shape our future students. The best part is that they often bridge together and forge stronger bonds between student and parents.
Laura, both the article and your account of your son's experience are great! I would have never thought that a 6 year old could make a working circuit - but when there's a will, there's a way I suppose! I think that children using technology is so interesting. My eleven year old cousin is always telling me about a new application on her iPad or showing me a new website on her MacBook Pro. Even though she's eleven, she's teaching me the 20 year old ways around the internet that I wasn't aware of. I think it will be a very interesting and exciting experience in the classroom to be able to balance what the teacher knows with what the students know. Instead of creating a teacher-dominated environment, technology can really be an equalizer in experience with both parties learning more than they came in with. Especially with the explanation provided in the article, I look forward to being able to balance technology with subject knowledge for my students!
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