They’re Wired, Not Weird

Who they are, how they learn, and what we should be doing about it.

Imagine a child you know. What kind of school experience would you want them to have?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0E0E55ts-A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkX8J-FKndE

The Trick Is Not To Forget Too Much

• What was being a teenager like for you?– Timeless elements– Unique traits and experiences

• How do you “stay connected”?

“extended adolescence” (ages 8-18); How you spend your time at this stage of your life determines how your brain is wired, and what the pattern for the remainder of your life will be. (Tapscott)

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne7BLwrFS2I

“Wired”• Connected via the web; socially,

academically

• When I “Googled” “Wired, Not Weird”…

www.weirdandwired.net

What do you think you know?

• Café session #1– K-W-L

• Who are these people? What are they like?• Why do we need to respond to them in a

unique way? • How should I respond? What do I need to

learn in order to be as effective as possible?

Who are these people?• Some things never change:

– classic teenage qualities– parents are the same no matter time or

place; classic reaction on the part of adults

You know parents are the sameNo matter time nor placeThey don't understand that us kidsAre going to make some mistakesSo to you other kids all across the landThere's no need to argueParents just don't understand

Recognized as a distinct period in nearly all world cultures –

modern or tribal• Novelty• Excitement• Peers

• Not an exclusively American trait

• Parents often phrase this question more colorfully. Scientists put it more coolly. They ask, What can explain this behavior? But even that is just another way of wondering, What is wrong with these kids? Why do they act this way? The question passes judgment even as it inquires.

National Geographic, Teenage Brains, Dobbs, October 2011

• “They lose their brains. Slowly they begin to come back near the end of freshman year.” -my mom

• Our brains, it turned out, take much longer to develop than we had thought. This revelation suggested both a simplistic, unflattering explanation for teens' maddening behavior—and a more complex, affirmative explanation as well.

• The first full series of scans of the developing adolescent brain—a National Institutes of Health (NIH) project that studied over a hundred young people as they grew up during the 1990s—showed that our brains undergo a massive reorganization between our 12th and 25th years. The brain doesn't actually grow very much during this period. It has already reached 90 percent of its full size by the time a person is six, and a thickening skull accounts for most head growth afterward. But as we move through adolescence, the brain undergoes extensive remodeling, resembling a network and wiring upgrade.

• Speed, strength, sophistication & efficiency; basic function near the stem to complex thinking up front; integrating memory and experience to decision process

• Clumsy at first• Dobbs

• Can function as well as adults if motivated; don’t use brain regions that monitor performance, spot errors, plan, stay focused = more likely to be distracted

• Richer networks and faster connections make this easier. (we’re no better – we’re just older)

• Genetic findings: adaptive-adolescent = less rough-draft and more exquisitely sensitive, highly adaptable creature wired almost perfectly for moving from the safety of home into the complicated world

• These traits don’t characterize adolescence; it’s just what we notice most because it’s “outlier” at best, annoying, and sometimes dangerous

• Seeking sensation• Love of novelty• Thrill = high; they weigh the reward differently

– Accidents

– But- they reason as well as adults– They do know that they are mortal– Often overestimate risk

• over the course of human evolution, the willingness to take risks during this period of life has granted an adaptive edge. Succeeding often requires moving out of the home and into less secure situations. "The more you seek novelty and take risks," says Baird, "the better you do." This responsiveness to reward thus works like the desire for new sensation: It gets you out of the house and into new turf.

• Social connection/reward; oxytocin• The neural networks and dynamics

associated with general reward and social interactions overlap heavily. Engage one, and you often engage the other. Engage them during adolescence, and you light a fire.

• Gravitate toward peers:– Novelty– Closer to the future– Social creatures: survival, inclusion (shame is

the fear of exclusion)

Dr. Medina

Research: What are they like?

What do we do with them? (Tapscott)

• Extended adolescence • They are not passive recipients - they are

participants• They don’t conceptualize privacy as they

perhaps should• Switching mechanisms + better “working

memory” (not multi-tasking)• Not a big distinction between work and non-

work; work should be fun; learn through collaboration

The first generation to come of age in the digital

era…• 2010 ages 13-33• Flooding the workplace, marketplace• Demographic muscle, media smarts,

purchasing power, new models of collaborating and parenting, entrepreneurship, and political power

• Feeling-driven, pluralistic, spontaneous

• Up to 1/3 are growing up with single parents

• Interested in spiritual things• In their lifetime: Flocabulary (4 min)

http://www.getschooled.com/rap-homage-to-the-class-of-2010

AKA (also known as):• “remote control kids” – unprecedented

and constant change• “salad bowl generation” – diversity• “14th generation” – 14th generation born

after the American Revolution• “Bridgers” – bridging the millenia• “Millenials”• “The Net Generation”• “library immigrants”

• Special• Sheltered• Confident• Team oriented• Achieving• Pressured• Conventional

Empowered

• “Children will learn how to do the things they want to do” – Sugata Mitra

Politically Active

What’s Up? What’s Down?• Drug use• Binge drinking• Teen pregnancy• Adolescent crime• Corporate loyalty;

relationship with supervisor

• Hanging out• Standing out• Spam

• Cheating• Parental pressure• ADD• Fitting in• Structured play• Obesity• Asthma• Homework time

• Diversity• Environmentalism• Volunteerism• Reforms• Multi-tasking• SAT; scores and participation• Their parents’ music• Parents’ values

What else is up?

• http://youtu.be/g30omUwhHTs

• Digital Literacy – access the tools, select the tools

• Media literacy – develop critical and creative capabilities to receive, assess, and develop information and media

• Global literacy – use tools to access the world and develop a sense of place and people; curriculum should provide context and background to further these understandings

Heidi Hayes Jacobs; The Three Key Literacies; THEjournal, Demski, January 2012

What more do you want to learn?

• Café session #2– K-W-L

• Who are these people? What are they like?• Why do we need to respond to them in a

unique way? • How should I respond? What do I need to

learn in order to be as effective as possible?

Why do we need to respond?

• Disruptive technologies; these will not work with the traditional management of a classroom

• Students need to learn social responsibility of using powerful tools

• 50% are happiest online• 75% say they “could not live without the

internet”• they live “hybrid lives” communicating and

networking in more advanced ways• have “highly developed visual-spacial skills”• THEY ARE BORED

We can’t keep doing things the way we’ve always done them

• We’re leaving so many behind: boys, socio-economic groups, ethnic groups

Integrate, integrate, integrate

• PBL• Constructivism• Technology

• Edutopia• Catalina Foothills School District

• Lean into the discomfort of the work• Support the uncomfortable social construct:

bullies, love, sense of self, worthiness• Be vulnerable; let them teach you, show

them you don’t know everything and you shouldn’t

• Adults “numb” when what we should really be doing is reconnecting (make certain, perfect

• Brene Brown, TEDtalks

Teaching NOW (Teacher Magazine; edweek.org) News Flash: High School Students Are Bored By Anthony Rebora on J uly 1, 2010 12:30 PM | 12 Comments | No TrackBacks A recently released annual survey on student engagement has found that, in the grand American tradition, high school students continue to be bored. The "2009 High School Survey of Student Engagement," conducted by the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University, reveals that 66 percent of the students surveyed said they are bored on at least a daily basis in school, with 17 percent reporting that they are bored in every class. Two percent of the students said they are never bored in school, raising suspicions that they could be Russian spies. (Kidding about that last part.) Perhaps not surprisingly, the factor the students most frequently cited as the cause of their boredom was that the "material wasn't interesting," with "lack of relevance" of the material following not too far behind. Some 35 percent of the bored students, however, indicated that the source of their boredom was a lack of interaction with their teacher.

Indeed, the report suggests that providing greater interaction of some sort might be at least part of the answer to relieving students' malaise. Asked to rate to degree to which various types of classroom work excite or engage them, the students gave the highest positive ratings to "Discussion and Debate" (especially when "there are no clear answers") and "Group Projects." "Projects and Lessons Involving Technology" also scored well. By contrast, "Teacher Lecture" received the lowest ratings, with only 26 percent of students responding positively.

The students also indicated, with a whopping 82 percent in agreement, that they would welcome more opportunities to be creative at school. Food for thought ...

“Online Student Experience”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWPI35WGsTc

Dr John Medina; “Brain Rules – 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School”

*Rule #1 – Exercise boosts brain power.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck-tQt0S0Os

www.brainrules.net

Marc Prensky - Edutopia• What experiences in school really

engaged you?• How do you use technology in school

as opposed to outside of school?• What are your pet peeves?

Listen to them….

1. “There is so much difference between how students think and how teachers think. You think of technology as a tool. We think of it as a foundation –it’s at the basis of everything we do.”

2. “A lot of teachers make a PowerPoint and think they are so awesome. But it’s just like writing on the blackboard.”

3. “If it’s the way we want to learn, and the way we can learn, you should let us do it.”

4. Teacher, “Do computers cut you off from the world?” Student, “Not at all. We share with others and get help. Technology helps – it strengthens interactions so we can always sty in touch and play with other people. I’ve never gone a day without talking to my friends online.”

5. The difference between what students want and what they’re receiving is significant. Student frustration is rising.” -Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow (tracks youth culture) www.tomorrow.org

6. Kids hate being talked at. They hate when teaching is simply telling. They hate lectures and tune them out.

7. Prefer dealing with questions than with answers, sharing their opinions, participating in group projects, working with real-world issues and people, and having teachers who talk to them as equals rather than as inferiors.

• Online gaming site Roiworld surveyed 600 teens ages 13 to 17 in late April and found that teens spend at least two hours per day online on average, 80% of which is spent using a social network. 

Mashable http://mashable.com/

How should we respond? andWhat do we need to learn?

The real problem is not adding technology to the current organization of the classroom, but changing the culture of teaching and learning

• Engage them– Employ children in meaningful work; they can

and should make contributions to the learning community

– Provide rigorous and motivating learning opportunities to prepare them to be productive in our global economy (November)

– New roles in which students make contributions to their learning communities (screencasting, podcasting)

• Role model– Continue to learn and integrate– Demonstrate how to harness the power

of information and global communication.• Tap our students’ interest in digital

tools to design more rigorous and motivating assignments.– Rigorous and more motivating

assignments that better prepare students for the new global economy

– Take down our “generational firewall”

Alan NovemberCurriculum21 chapter 11

“Power Down or Power Up?”• “Student as Contributor: The Digital Farm”

– Tutorial Designers www.mathtrain.tv • Document learning and problem-solving processes

– Camtasia (www.techsmith.com)– Jing (www.jingproject.com)

– Official Scribes• Use online collaboration tools to create one set of

perfect notes instead of everyone taking their own– Shared blog, wiki, google docs

– Researchers• Use the one computer that is always in the room as a

research station; one student finds all of the answers to the questions that come up in class. This can be an opportunity to learn more about accurate information, too.

• Collaboration Coordinators– Connect with other classes and subject experts

around the world; a team can establish and maintain these relationships.

• Skype (www.skype.com) • Get different perspectives on an issue, write and ask

questions of an expert (globalization, American Revolution)

• Contributors to Society– Use issues as a platform to teach social justice and

empathy• www.kiva.org; micro loans to entreprenuers in developing

countries; build understanding while raising funds• Curriculum Reviewers

http://www.bobsprankle.com/blog/C1697218367/index.html – Create materials for continuous review as resources come together

through other efforts http://www.bobsprankle.com/bobsprankle/index.html

So – What do you know now? What more would you like to

know?• Café session #2

– K-W-L• Who are these people? What are they like?• Why do we need to respond to them in a

unique way? • How should I respond? What do I need to

learn in order to be as effective as possible?

• Be light, but steady and constant (resiliency study)

• Stay connected; let them be connected

“I’m a millenial” Dr. Michael Wesch 2007

• “A Vision of Students Today” (2007) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

Learning to ChangeChanging to Learn

(Consortium for School Networking)• 21st Century pedagogy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l72UFXqa8ZU • Learning to Change – Changing to Learn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tahTKdEUAPk (5 min)

• 20th Century & 21st Century Teachers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJYpsB3o0Uc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p91ILVzUHyc

Project Tomorrowhttp://www.tomorrow.org/index.html

Want children to “Pay Attention”? Make Their Brains Curious!

Judy Willis, MD, M.Ed.

• We must reduce the perception of threat• Ask children to make predictions. • The brain seeks input about the new, the

unexpected, the colorful…when students are curious, they seek explanation. Make change. Get the RAS to admit sensory input. Spark curiosity. Get creative.

• Advertisements do this very well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLTIowBF0kE

Let Them Play• Interrobang

– “Missions challenge participants to get out, have fun, learn, explore the world and enjoy life. A problem-solving game with real-world missions that can win prizes, improve problem-solving skills and connect participants with others to do things that just might change the world”

– Badges: completing missions, doing something transformative, changing a person, a place or a thing for the better, complete a deed with someone of another generation, use unconventional methodology

– http://playinterrobang.com (“top 10”, teams, points and badges)

Let Them Connect• One World Youth Project

http://www.oneworldyouthproject.org; sister-school program for middle and high school students; community service toward the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals

• TakingITGlobal http://www.tigweb.org/; a social network focussing on global issues; discussion boards, action guides, e courses (i.e. “sprout” for aspiring social innovators and environmental engineers)

• iEARN www.iearn.org; non-profit global network for global collaboration

• Lil’ MGDs http://www.lilmdgs.org/; youth-founded charity

What do you think is the most significant thing you’ve

learned?• Café session #3

– K-W-L• Who are these people? What are they like?• Why do we need to respond to them in a

unique way? • How should I respond? What do I need to

learn in order to be as effective as possible?

Flat Classroom Projects• http://flatclassrooms.ning.com/?

xg_source=msg_mes_network

infowhelmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=7ECAVxbfsfc

Think mtv http://think.mtv.com/

• Mtvu http://www.mtvu.com/

• skype• iconfinder.com • www.howstuffworks.com• footnote.com; historical documents• docstoc.com; free, shared documents• bookrix.com; free books online• ask500people.com; surveys, etc.• http://quizlet.com; “quizlet eats flashcards for

breakfast”• http://hotpot.uvic.ca; “hot potato”; suite with six

applications for interactive learning exercises

Other Good Stuff• http://committedsardine.com get the first

three chapters of “Understanding the Digital Generation” free! (Jukes, McCain, and Macdonald, The InfoSavvy Group)

• 21st Century Fluency Project http://www.21stcenturyfluency.com/

• http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/ -workshops

• Your LMS and district offerings, CESA, etc.• Y-size Your Business – Jason Ryan Dorsey

Thank you!• Parting thoughts?• Feedback?• Recommendations?

• Preview HSSD 21launch video? Feedback?

References and Resources• Ten Techie Tools Teachers Could

Choose To Use To Transform Teaching and Learning – Doug Woods

• http://www.flypmedia.com/issues/24/#1/1

• Hall Davidson• Ian Jukes

• Specific characteristics of this generation– 21st Century fluency series (12 pp)

www.21stcenturyfluency.com – Ch 3 Understanding the Digital Generation

“What We Know About the Digital Generation”– Y-Size Your Business by Jason Ryan Dorsey– “The Progressive Politics of the Millenial

Generation” – The New Politics Institute– “Meet the Millenials” – The Center for Media

Research; Jack Loechner, 2010– “library immigrants”