Editor's Note
In discussing 21st century learning, Wells and Claxton (2002) argue that current education is essentially about developing “minds to learn” and that “the way minds grow is not fundamentally through didactic instruction and intensive training, but through a more subtle kind of learning in which youngsters pick up useful (or useless) habits of mind from those around them and receive guidance in reconstructing these resources in order to meet their own and society’s current and future concerns” (p. 2). They use Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as a way to think about 21st Century education and the challenges of preparing students to participate in a global community and use new technological tools. CHAT is “a theory of human development that sees human societies and their individual members as mutually constitutive. Cultures play a large role in shaping the development of individual minds; and individuals’ thoughts and deeds serve to maintain or to alter the cultural milieu” (Wells & Claxton, 2002, p. 3). One of its key features is a focus on artifacts – the tools, practices, communicative and reflective activities of individuals in the society. They note that all joint activity uses tools as a means to coordinate and mediate individuals’ actions. Another key feature is the importance of participation – “since action is mediated by semiotic as well as material tools, participation in the various modes of discourse that organize and interpret action not only provides the context for the learning of language and other semiotic systems, but it also induces learners into the culture’s ways of making sense of experience” (p. 4).
The summer issue of Meridian presents articles that address these two aspects of CHAT. In her featured article, “Using Technology to Develop Global Teachers: An Innovative Model,” Stubbs describes a model for professional development that encourages teachers to become participants in the global community which in turn enhances their own students’ experiences. The other featured article by Langran and Alibrandi, “Middle School Social Studies Teachers Integrating Technology to Meet 21st Century Challenges,” reports on a curriculum development project that utilizes the Internet and digital video as tools to promote learning that meets new societal needs and challenges. Ezrailson’s article, “How Using The Physics Front Digital Library Can Support Best Practices
in Science” also makes use of the Internet as a tool for teachers by providing a description of an online library of physics and physical science labs, lesson plans, activities, and assessments. Roberson and Hagevik provide a commentary on a common tool used by students, the cell phone, and offer possible uses of these tools in a classroom setting. Finally, Ivey and Corn respond and add to the Living Article, “Ten Lessons Learned: Considerations for School Leaders When Implementing One-To-One Learning” from the previous issue of Meridian. We believe that these articles contribute to the thoughtful discourse about appropriate tool use in middle grades education and raise issues of participation by both teachers and indirectly their students in the global community.
Wells, G. & Claxton, G. (2002). Introduction: Sociocultural perspectives on the future of education. In G. Wells & G. Claxton (Eds.), Learning for Life in the 21st Century: Sociocultural Perspectives on the Future of Education (pp. 1-17). Oxford: Blackwell.
Holt Wilson
Editor, Meridian : A Middle School Computer Technologies Journal
