Education Week Teacher: Teaching the iGeneration: It's About Verbs, Not Tools.pdf
I don't have an answer to this question because there are too many factors that go into this equation. Factors that I will briefly mention below:
1. I guess we need to define what is "smart" and what is "dumb?" Is "smart" being able to recall specific dates as indicated in the article, or is "smart" having the knowledge and ability to find information quickly? If recall of facts is what defines smart, than I think this generation struggles with memorization (especially math facts), and I would have to agree with the statement above.
2. I believe that today's students are expected to learn much more than what was expected of me at the same age. For example, today's third graders have to be able to utilize the distributive property of multiplication at age 9. I didn't get to this until at least 6th grade! Are our expectations too high? Are they age appropriate? Are we pushing them with harder content too soon? Is this igeneration dumber, I don't think we can decide because we are not comparing the same skills.
3. Is "smart" defined by reaching a certain benchmark or scoring a certain percentage? What I see in my classroom is a push to get students to pass specific tests. There seems to be a mentality that students who reach a certain researched-based benchmark will be success. So educators make sure students meet the benchmark targets, but at the expense of the verbs later mentioned in the article--persuading, presenting, critical thinking, organizing of ideas.
4. Art programs are being put on the back burner or removed completely. Are students "dumber" because creativity and imagination has been removed from what is valued in our culture?
5. Are technological skills considered being "smart?" My third grade showed me today ways to better use my iPad. My first PC was purchased in 1987 when I was a freshman in college! My grandchildren and comfortably manipulate iPhones, iPads, computers--is this being smart or dumb?
6. Is it technology that is making this generation dumber, or is it our culture's values? so many of my students place very little value on school. Sports and "playing" with technology take top billing. So is technology the problem or the applications in which it is applied the problem? I do believe that all the time being spent texting trivial information could be better used on better things. However, how many endless hours did we waste chatting on the phones when we were their age?
7. Being responsible. I think that people today, both adults and children, don't take responsibility for what they do and/or don't do. We've had it pretty comfortable for a long time, so we have lost what it means to be responsible and how to work hard. There's this "I'm entitled" attitude that I have noticed in the last few years. Is this attitude the reason our students seem less inclined to work hard academically? Are we losing our edge as a nation because things have been too easy for too long?
So what can we, the teachers, do to change the tide? Well, I have to be careful of how and why I am using technology. I have been guilty of teaching students how to use the tools, but I have not been as careful as to why I am using it and what lifelong skill I want students to gain from the project. I like the break down of the verbs, not the nouns, should be the driving force to using technology. If I am wanting my students to learn how to persuade then I should use the nouns, the tools, to help students present their thinking. By the time my students are in 6th grade the tool, or noun, will have changed to something new and better. If I have simply taught how to use the tool, then they won't be able to persuade using the tool. However, if I have taught my students how to persuade, they can use their skills and adapt them to the new technology.
Verbs are the kinds of knowledge-driven, lifelong skills that teachers know matter:
thinking critically, persuading peers, presenting information in an organized and convincing
fashion. Nouns are the tools that students use to practice those skills