Investigation of Digital Natives
Education for Digital Natives
The article “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” by Marc Prensky discusses the changes in information processing by the students of today due to the rise in digital technology of the last few decades. He argues that because of digital technology, students learn in a drastically different way than the generation before them, leading to a disconnect in how to successfully teach them. I agree with Prensky and support this claim by noting popular and successful vloggers, Hank and John Green, and their education channels “Crash Course” and “SciShow” on YouTube.
Marc Prensky, in his article “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”, makes the overall claim that due to the differences in the way students learn, because of the rise of digital technology, teachers must adapt and find new ways to reach their students. He argues that “students think and processes information fundamentally [different] from their predecessors” and that the today’s students “brains have physically changed…[leading to different] thinking patterns”(Prensky 1) as a result of the digital technology that was a part of their upbringing. Next, he defines the terms “Digital Natives” as people who are “‘native speakers’ of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet” (Prensky 1), and the “Digital Immigrants” as people who “were not born into the digital world but have…become fascinated by and adopted many…aspects of the new technology” (Prensky 1-2). This gives way to a discussion on the differences between the Immigrants and Natives, and whether our society needs to take those differences into account. Some differences listed include the fact that Immigrants were “‘socialized’ differently” from the Natives (Prensky 2), and the difference in how Immigrants and Natives learn, such as how Natives prefer to “[receive] information really fast…parallel process and multi-task”, while Immigrants learn “slowly, step-by-step, one thing at a time” (Prensky 2).
The article “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” by Marc Prensky discusses the changes in information processing by the students of today due to the rise in digital technology of the last few decades. He argues that because of digital technology, students learn in a drastically different way than the generation before them, leading to a disconnect in how to successfully teach them. I agree with Prensky and support this claim by noting popular and successful vloggers, Hank and John Green, and their education channels “Crash Course” and “SciShow” on YouTube.
Marc Prensky, in his article “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”, makes the overall claim that due to the differences in the way students learn, because of the rise of digital technology, teachers must adapt and find new ways to reach their students. He argues that “students think and processes information fundamentally [different] from their predecessors” and that the today’s students “brains have physically changed…[leading to different] thinking patterns”(Prensky 1) as a result of the digital technology that was a part of their upbringing. Next, he defines the terms “Digital Natives” as people who are “‘native speakers’ of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet” (Prensky 1), and the “Digital Immigrants” as people who “were not born into the digital world but have…become fascinated by and adopted many…aspects of the new technology” (Prensky 1-2). This gives way to a discussion on the differences between the Immigrants and Natives, and whether our society needs to take those differences into account. Some differences listed include the fact that Immigrants were “‘socialized’ differently” from the Natives (Prensky 2), and the difference in how Immigrants and Natives learn, such as how Natives prefer to “[receive] information really fast…parallel process and multi-task”, while Immigrants learn “slowly, step-by-step, one thing at a time” (Prensky 2).
Cited: Mayrer, Jessica. "Meet the Vloggers." Missoula Independent 8. Apr 2012. ProQuest. Web. 18 June 2013. Prensky, Marc. "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants." On the Horizon 9.5 (2001): 1-6. Oct. 2001. Web. 18 June 2013.