Going to school, whether it be elementary, middle, or high school, now is different than going to school 20, 10, and even 5 years ago. Today, parents realize that their children are learning in different ways than they did when they went to school many, many years ago. I often hear parents ask each other, and on the occasion, ask me, being an educational provider (I’m an academic tutor), “What’s so different about how the way students learn presently than in the previous times?”
Upon being asked this question (or overhearing it being asked from one parent to another), it’s easy to reply that “Times have changed, and society is becoming more modernized and technology developed driven than before. Therefore, students today are immersed in a completely different learning environment than their parents.” I came to this conclusion based on a theory I have about education – that it is complex, and always changing.
So, in order to provide points about my argument, I will breakdown my theory into two phases of learning: Pre-Digital (pre-2000s) and the Digital Age (mid-2000s).
In the pre-digital (a.k.a. the “Pre-Historic Times”, according to my 13-year old nephew), learning was focused on these main three concepts:
– observation
– listening
– memorization
And now, in the digital (modern) age, where information is easily attainable via the Internet, and at times is overwhelming and/or misleading, I believe that learning expands out of those three concepts (observation, listening, and memorization) to include:
– questioning your learning experience (this is the most practiced concept; teachers and professors alike almost always ask their students this question after they are taught something new)
– proving (and disproving) what you find (this is a great method because students are taught to question what they find, therefore, stimulating their brains even more so)
– inventing new knowledge and learning methods and concepts (embracing the “new” is being taught in classrooms today)
– teaching others what you have learned (my favorite concept thus far; not only is it teaching students to share, it is also enriching learning beyond the classroom setting)
So, to summarize my theory in a nutshell, learning today is far more (and I really emphasize on that phrase) interactive than it was in the previous years. Students are taught to be hands-on in class, whether it is through more discussion in class and less lecturing, or going to the Internet to do information research in class. I feel that a lot of students today enjoy going to school because many teachers are welcoming these new learning methods, and instead of the students feeling like they are being tortured through boring lectures, they are involved in those methods along with their teachers.
Being how this is an article about learning, my question now, to you, is: what do you think? Feel free to leave a comment.
