kitchen table math, the sequel: Internet Savvy ? Not.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Kids Aren't As Internet Savvy As They Think

If you read it to the end -- I promise a website worth the click.

Niels Henrik Abel said...: I remember stumbling across *that website* in some other context before. PT Barnum would be proud, no doubt (or whoever came up with that famous quote).; February 2, 2011 at 4:36 PM
palisadesk said...: Last year I had to take a group of eighth graders to the computer lab on short notice, and I had heard about the site in question and decided to try it out on them.I gave them all the URL and had the site on the data projector and walked them through a few sections, very superficially. I then asked them to read the site critically and be prepared to advocate for (or against) efforts to preserve the habitat of this endangered species.

Now, not all these students were the sharpest knives in the drawer, but there were a number who were quite well-read, media-savvy and whom I would have expected to at least query why they had never heard of this "species" before.

None did. We debriefed at the end, and not a single student picked up on the spoof.

I have not found that students are especially "computer savvy" or "internet savvy" -- no more than their elders. Savvy about downloading music and games, yes, and navigating Facebook. But not about technical computer issues, even simple networking and connection matters, and not about regularly used practical programs like Excel, Word, Publisher, even Power Point (which I don't particularly care for).; February 4, 2011 at 3:10 PM

kitchen table math, the sequel