Technology as Tool for Action and Reflection Bob Greenberg Ravenscroft Middle School

Bob: We had a science and technology fair in which students produced displays on scientific and technological principles. They had to produce a cartoon which displayed some aspect of science or technology, either positive or negative [Cartooning Instruction]. They learned about cartooning techniques like using symbolism, satire, and exaggeration to make their point. Particularly, I encouraged them to find a controversial current event involving technology... and a lot of them chose topics like cloning [Cloning Cartoon], pharmaceuticals, computers, and the world wide web. It gives them a chance to reflect on the changes invevitably caused by new technologies.

MT: I got goose bumps.

Bob: Some of them were able to really go far with their ideas. A few of them criticized people for complaining that things were better in the past. Let me find one. Here it is: It shows a man having a heart attack. [Heartflush Cartoon] "We need something to thin the blood to break down cholesterol build-ups," says his doctor. "Hold on, I 've got a great idea." So they use Drano for a heart flush and soon the average lifespan increases to 115 years old. The unexpected consequence is that dentists get rich because everyone 's teeth fall out. What the student is noting is that that while medical technology does help us live longer, for every new technology introduced there will always be unexpected side-effects. Students should not only learn to use the technology, but they should also be asked to reflect on it and understand that technology tends to bring good changes and also ones that are not so desirable. Another student who enjoys sports showed the change in sports over the past few decades, from actual outdoor experiences to "virtual sports", where people are excited by the "sound of the modem and the click of the processor." [Sportsmen of the 90's] This showed a sophisticated understanding of the impact of technological change.

At Ravenscroft we have an end of the year trip. It 's called Triangle Treasures. We go to Raleigh mostly and we visit places that have either historical or cultural interest. We go to the Duke Primate Center; we go to Hillsborough for an historic tour; we do a live study of local government in social studies and science that combines a lot of issues. And what we would like to do, since we spend a whole week traveling, we always do pictures and things like that, but this year we are going to try to post a site on the web for people interested in our traveling. Just from a kid 's perspective partly about the trip and partly about the Triangle. [Ravenscroft M.S.Website, http://www.ravenscroft.org]

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MT: That 's a great idea and you go to some places that are off the beaten path.

Bob: Yes, we do. This will be a good way for us to learn to do web pages and for the kids to display their work. So we are going to experiment. I think it is makes sense to take a project that you do every year and integrate technology to give you even more possibilities. Yes, we have always done slide shows and things like that, so this really just changes the format. Teachers have been using simulations for decades...especially in Social Studies and History courses. The Cuban Missile Crisis, Mock United Nations, Mock Presidential Debates...these bring to life our content, and require students to apply their knowledge. The technology enhances the interaction in some instances. I still do other kinds of simulations that don't use technology. And we must remember that too much of a good thing is...well, bad. I don't want to see students interacting more with computers than with each other. Some projects and work are simply poorly suited for computers. Moreover, many schools don't yet have sufficient technology, and many students still learn more effectively with other modes.

MT: I don't really believe that technology changes us. It 's an interaction or rather a transaction, we are acting on technology as it 's acting on us. So, what I 'm interested in is how do you see your transaction with
technology changing your teaching?

Bob: Basically, I think that it has changed my teaching but less in the way I teach kids and more in the way I organize my life. If there is any way that the technology changes my teaching it is simply . . . it may speed up how much I throw at kids, which I am not sure is good. Now you said technology, which could be, for example, the copy machine; the speed of the copy machine has sped up how much we give kids. We throw papers at them a lot faster now. So I think it may have caused me to speed up how much I throw at them but it doesn't change the way I teach them. To me, education is ultimately a human activity. And the interaction that I have with the kids, and the interaction they have with each other, is far more important than any interaction with the technology. It 's so important that I don't just have them sitting at the computer screen, but that I can go around and help them, talk with them, as you noticed in the class. So I don't think it has changed the nature of my teaching but it has changed how organized I am. I have a laptop over there and it helps with grading and being organized. Technology may have changed the speed at which we try to educate because I do believe that technology, in general, just speeds us up. Because we are able to do things faster, we do it faster. But we don't create more time, we just fill it up with the more things that we do. We are creatures of our environment...if it is filled with the technological, the technology will change us.

MT: How do you think your classroom has changed? And I mean in terms of a sense of community, the social interaction, what 's the influence of technology?

Bob: Well, there is a potential danger in social studies, particularly, of relying on the technology as a pacifier. So either the computer or the video can become a pacifier when we just plug it in, pop it in, and the class is sitting there staring at the screen. And that 's a danger and there are teachers that I have seen just fall back on it. But most teachers who are really reflective won 't use it excessively. I don't show videos, but, say, once a month, for a couple of days, and that 's it. But there are teachers who show videos every week. And then it is a question of how much is it helping me towards my goals or how much of it I just want to keep them busy?

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MT: How about in terms of the kids interacting with each other?

Bob: I guess in honest truth it probably does not have a big impact on that. Kids who are a-social or for whom it is difficult to be social are the ones who are going to play on the computers and not associate with the other kids. But I suspect that twenty years ago, before computers were all over the place, they would have just kept to themselves any way. So I don't think it has any negative effect on the way that kids interact. Equally, I 'm not sure it has any positive effects. It 's just a tool. I do think that it can interest them in education more and that 's probably the strength of technology that it keeps the kids interested more. It gets them plugged in sometimes more than a textbook. But the teacher is still crucial.

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MT: Tell me a little about this simulation activity that you have been doing?

Bob: Well, the simulation is a Tom Snyder production and it is called, "Decisions, Decisions: Immigration." Basically, we spent a semester studying Asia and Latin America. These are the regions currently from which large numbers of immigrants are coming to the US. So as we culminate those two units of study, I wanted to the kids to reflect on their own attitudes toward immigrants. We should understand our history, and that there have always been periods of high immigration. So I had given them some articles prior to the simulation, and they have learned some definitions from the books that are provided with the software. This is to be the culminating, fun activity. After the study of China, we held a simulation involving China 's admittance into the world trade organization. Each student came in character, Deng Xiaoping, Mao Zedong, Bill Clinton, Madeline Albright. Each student had a role to play. They had received plenty of background information and they held a debate. There was no technology. So computer simulations can do a good job but there are other ways to engage the students.

MT: Tell me about what I heard you say, your philosophy of "slowing down the process?" I thought that was interesting, the Immigration simulation being an example of how you just slow down the process?

Bob: The one area of technology that I still have some concern about is the pace that it creates. And I talk with colleagues about the possibility that, literally as kids grow up with more technology, computers, TVs, etc., their brains may be programmed in a way that is different from an older generation, especially in terms of their response to stimulus and attention and things of that sort. I suspect that these things are having a bigger impact on us than we know because we are our environment. Research may soon show that Attention Deficit correlates to stimulus early in life. And if I spend 6 hours a day, five days a week looking at a computer screen, I 'm probably going to be a little different than someone who sits six hours a day working in a garden or a field or a factory. This is not to say "good or bad" but to say we have to attend to these effects. I do think kids are going to be different because they are growing up with all of the technology, better, maybe, not worse, but it 's going to have an effect. So my whole point is that one thing technology does is to speed things up. I think it is important as we use it that we slow things down. For instance, they may want to jump onto the internet but sometimes we have to slow now and say, "Step by step, where can I best get my information?" They have to stop and ask those questions because the internet is not the best source of all information. You know, you have to sort through thousands of pages sometimes to get that one thing you want. Sometimes you can go straight to a book, or an encyclopedia, and it is really an easier starting point. But kids will want to jump. Just like in this simulation when the kids were put in front of that computer screen and it said, "Play." They did but they finished in ten minutes because they didn't read. They didn 't read the book, and they barely read the screen. It 's [snaps fingers] immediate response and they want to act. And that 's typical of kids, that 's ok. Our job is to slow them down and to create a structure where they have to go step-by-step and not jump to their decision. They don't realize that the President doesn't make decisions without consulting his advisors, if they do, it 's just "send back the immigrants." And so you have to stop and say, "Have you looked in your book to see what your advisers recommend?" I think it 's important that we have good people producing software for schools, and that it not be a mechanical process. Sim City and programs like that are really cool. Even in Sim City, students will play in an unreflective way unless you give good instructions so they are thinking about what they are doing. It is a game. It becomes educational when they have to reflect on things like, "Why did people get upset when your taxes go up, or when your government failed to provide good services?"

Bob: I have read and reflected alot about the increasing influence of technology. This is the article that I was able to publish about this topic, "Beyond the Technological Fix." The crux of my point, and what many sociologists have noted, is that technology alone cannot be the source of all our solutions. Enormous amounts of money and faith are thrown at new technologies...this will only work if we balance it with greater support of human elements: schools, teachers, social organizations that work with young people. I also have projects I haven't even mentioned. I did something called the Technology Assessment Project when I was teaching eighth grade and each kid had to choose a technology. And it involved science, math, and social studies doing these together. In science they investigated the process of how the technology works, in social studies they researched the history of technology and conducted a cost-benefits analysis, you know, what are the costs of using technology and what are the benefits of using technology? I had them do a future study of where is the technology heading? Then the math teacher had them do a data collection on their technology? So, if they took a hairdryer, they would have to design a study of the technology, and do a data collection project where they would answer how often they use it, study the amount of energy different ones use. I mean, this was awesome integration, and reflection! Most of us adults should evaluate more closely some of the technologies we surround ourself with to really determine if they save us time and money. We might be surprised. I understand that a researcher investigated how much time was spent washing clothes in the 1940's versus in the 1980's. Ironically, the amount of time is almost the same despite the introduction of the washing machine and dryer. Apparently, we change clothes far more often, wash them more often, and end up spending an equal amount of time washing clothes today as before the introduction of a washing machine. I ask the question: are people less busy, and stressed, today than 50 years ago?

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