For most of my life, I have been aware that the world I'm growing up in is entirely different from the world that my grandparents grew up in. I have a phone wherever I go, a calculator in my pocket, a camera for every important moment, and most of all I have the internet at my finger tips. How has this affected us? Well, I've not really stopped to think about it before. It could be good, it could be bad, but surely it has at least changed the way we approach problems.
"You won't always have a calculator with you" was something my middle school calculus teacher told me as a reason for testing our knowledge without the use of technology. But, that's entirely untrue now, as our cell phones are always with us. So, should we stop trying to teach the youth how to solve equations without the use of a calculator? Or is it a skill that should be taught no matter what? Well, I have seen grown adults pull out their phone to add to single digit numbers, so maybe they didn't retain much anyway.
"Use it or lose it" is another quote I remember hearing during my time in primary education. It states that unless you use what you learn that you'll forget it. This must vary from person to person, but if we all remembered what we were taught in school, we'd be able to recite the quadratic formula without the use of a catchy tune.
I intend to research the effects that the rise of technology has had on the ways the youth learn, and I will start with two simple questions: has the curiculum caught up to technology? Or do we continue to teach in ways that pretend the history of the world isn't at our fingertips?
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