Digital Generation Brains: Do They Work in School?

Since the evolution of Sesame Street and its engaging, fast-paced television learning, educators have wondered how classroom teachers can possibly compete with what’s enveloping student minds beyond school. Today the problem is not only beyond school, but in school as well. Keeping students from using digital devices for texting and networking isn’t easy; nor is keeping their minds on school studies. New York Times writer Matt Richtel, in his piece Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction, discusses time he spent with students and staff at Woodside High School, California, where principal David Reilly says he’s “trying to take back [student] attention from the Blackberries and video games” and “to a degree, I’m using technology to do it.” In the school there are now Chinese language classes taught via iPad and audio production classes. Reilly hopes to capture the attention of students who can’t seem to focus on schoolwork because they are too involved with digital activities that offer “instant gratification.” A 14-year-old admitted sending and receiving 27,000 text messages a month, while others are up late into the morning hours on school nights playing video games, social networking, and working on digital movies. Not all educators and researchers agree that adding more tech is the way to challenge today’s students to learn, and research studies cited in the article suggest that video games hamper sleep and seem to “override” what students have studied.  Multitasking doesn’t work, and the brain appears to need downtime, not constant activity, to digest what it learns. Although there are excellent points tackled in this article that all educators must think about, the answers are still waiting. The questions remain: (1) Is the answer good teaching, whether tech is used or not, or (2) are some students so intensely involved in their digital lives that they are not able to focus no matter how effective the teacher?