Don't send kids to school without their external brains
Wednesday, October 23, 2013 at 05:44AM I traded in my first iPhone, a 4, on Monday for a 5s. With a new contract and a generous Best Buy trade-in, I was out about 80 bucks. I expected to spend most of Monday evening installing, tweaking, restoring, organizing apps and such but by simply "restoring" from the settings of my old phone, I was up and running in about 30 minutes. Amazing.
I've long argued that asking kids to leave their phones at home is not only unwise, but cruel. All of us, adults and kids, have been assimilated with our smartphones providing external Borgish brains, admit it or not.
Phone numbers, calendars, address books, to-do-lists, flight schedules and such, I have long relegated to device memory. I've started to use the camera on the phone to help me remember my hotel room number, parking space, my grocery list, - anything this aging brain finds itself forgetting. (See below.)
So why should students not also be able to rely on these memory-assisting devices - for assignments, to-do lists, notes, etc. Snap a photo of a teacher's Powerpoint or homework assignment from the board.
More importantly, these devices provide instant access to information related to questions that come up during discussions or studies. Two incidents drove this home for me:
On a road trip a couple summers ago with the grandsons, we drove through the town of Lodi, WI - Home of Susie the Duck.
The LWW and I turned to each other and asked, "Who is Susie the Duck?", feeling culturally illiterate. But by the time we were out of town, grandson Paul had used the 3G connectivity on an iPad to find out who Susie was and why she is still honored by a fesitval in her name. Boom. I'm sure had we waited to get to a desktop computer or library, we'd have forgotten the question.
More recently, a fellow Kiwanian (even older than I am), nudged me during our noon lunch meeting and asked, "Hey, would you use your phone to look up how the 'beef commercial' dish got its name." So even those who don't have external brains themselves know they exist and how they can be used.
We have to stop banning student-owned smart devices in our schools; stop sending kids to school without all the resources they can leverage in their learning.
Reader Comments (4)
Doug, your statement that "More importantly, these devices provide instant access to information related to questions that come up during discussions or studies" was driven home to me this summer when, I too, was on a road trip (10,000+!!) and used my phone to answer all my and my family's "I wonder . . . " questions as we made our way up and back to Alaska from San Antonio, Texas. It was fabulous to be able to satisfy our curiosity about people, places and things we saw along the way. As you said, if we had had to wait to find a desktop computer or library, the moment and the questions would have been lost. (We didn't pay for the International Plan for our Internet service when we hit Canada so unfortunately, many of our questions were left unanswered - next time we'll pay the big bucks for the extra coverage!!) Fortunately, our school is embracing BYOD and most students have ready access to information. Now if you could just give me the magic formula for boosting kids' curiosity, we'll have the perfect combination:-) Maybe this is where greater focus on self-directed learning can make a difference.
Hey Doug,
Very reasonable advice. But there should be a limit of using these external brains to avoid the addiction.
HI Renee,
Wonderful story. Thanks for sharing it. I personally love these road trips with kids.
You last question about "boosting kids' curiosity" is a great one. My sense is that personalizing education is a big part of getting kids to be independent question-askers and answer-producers!
All the best,
Doug
Hi Emma,
I agree with you to a large extent - but then I don't set a personal limit on the use of my own external brain. Would I be hypocritical suggesting to others that they do so?
Still thinking about this one!
Thanks for commenting.
Doug
How often to learning opportunities take place outside of class? Now - all the time