Jukes Article

I thought that the "Jukes" article was right on the money! We inherently know why are kids are different from us, but this article really showed "why" they are different from us. I thought that it was fascinating that recent MRI studies have shown that our children use different neural pathways in the brain to process information than we do. Basically, they are "hard-wired" (pun intended) differently from us because of their relative ease to assimiliate into the digital environment and the basic fact that they were "born" into this technological boom. As a completely different generation, it makes us rethink how we should be presenting and teaching information to kids. Since the article stated that kids want info. fast, in various ways (like visual) and from various sources, my focus as an elementary school teacher has shifted as a result of this article. In situations that would be appropriate, I think that one way that I would shift my teaching method by instead of "lecturing" first, let the kids "group teach/learn" amongst each other first, do an experiment or research together, then have them present their findings to the class and have one big "group learning" session. This has allowed them to engage in team work, communication, deductive reasoning, etc. It's worth a try!