Why are kids the way they are today? Howard Gardner believes he has the answers. Students today have grown up with the world at their fingertips through computers, tablets, and smartphones. This has caused them to have unique characteristics from those of us born before technology was so ubiquitous. He categorizes these differing characteristics into three groups: identity, intimacy, and imagination.
Even as young as 5th grade, my students have been shaped by the internet and the world of connectivity. I have students who use Snapchat, have Youtube channels, and play games where they’re connected to others around the world.
With our students, we certainly need to help them to maintain a strong sense of their true identity, both on the internet and in our classrooms and to grow that identity based on their interests and a strong personal code of ethics and morals rather than to try to maintain a cultivated image for “likes.” We also need to help our students learn how to meet other people and have strong social skills. In the future, working together, be it in person or digitally, is a key skill so we need students to be proficient in both face-to-face and online social skills.
Students also need experience with actively using their imaginations and not relying on “apps” to create everything. I just had a personal experience with this last week. I was teaching students how to make websites about decimals (digitizing a poster project that my coworker had used for years [decades?]). Students quickly showed their reliance on Google image search and reluctance to use Google Drawings to create their own illustrations of decimals. I will be teaching this lesson two more times (to the other 5th grade classes) and I plan to have them start by laying out their websites on paper (including drawings) first to remove pre-created images from their options when they’re planning. They then may find a pre-created image still but hopefully some will create their own content.
