all Uruguayan children have a primary PC.
January 2, 2011
In the souk of digital natives. 2.0 Why do students need a compass to orient
Serena Danna
Farewell to the old know-linear based on the written word and the teacher-student transmission of knowledge: learning today takes the form of an Arab souk in rush hour. Among social networking, video stories on YouTube, MySpace music, the syncopated language of online chat and buffaloes, the new generation of students who need a compass to navigate. But the school is not there. Or rather, not do it: a 2.0 students from schools are often the last century.
Who are these infamous "digital natives" born and raised in the Internet revolution accomplished? As written by the former director of the Comparative Media Studies program of the 'MIT of Boston, Henry Jenkins, their culture is "participatory" and is based on "production and sharing of digital creations" and an "informal partnership" between teachers and pupils that brings the child to feel responsible for the educational project. The teacher is no longer a transmitter of knowledge but a facilitator, which acts as a filter between the chaos of the system and the brain of the small student.
"They attend the interactive screens from birth," said Paolo Ferri professor of educational technology and theory and technique New Media at the University of Milan Bicocca, "and consider the Internet" the main tool for finding, sharing and managing information. "This is the first generation (who is now 12 years between Oei) really think that hi-tech, learns and knows differently from his older brothers.
"If it meant for us to learn to read-study-again, for children raised on video games means first of all solve problems in an active way," Ferri said that studies and promotes for years the "digital learning".
Children who are raised with mobile and console are "used to see the resolution of cognitive tasks as a pragmatic problem," he adds. Director Lynn Clark dell' Estlow International Center for Journalism and New Media dell'Università di Denver ha condotto un progetto di ricerca su 300 famiglie americane per capire come se la cavano con i media digitali.
"Grazie ai videogiochi, il sapere dei bambini si nutre di simboli, sfide e modelli sempre diversi di narrazione", spiega Clark che aggiunge: "quando le modalità di apprendimento scolastico sono simili a quelle di un gioco ci sono maggiori chances che gli alunni apprendano volentieri e in fretta". "Se qualcosa può essere visto, ascoltato, suonato, perché dovrebbe essere raccontato a parole?", si chiede Paolo Ferri.
Nishant Shah, che a 26 anni dirige il Center for Internet and Society di Bangalore in India, it says so on Skype: "The technology of our fathers is that on television: an analog model that establishes roles, responsibilities and structure of production, distribution and consumption of knowledge. With the explosion of p2p - the idea of \u200b\u200ba network where hierarchy exists and everything is shared, roles are challenged by the student, who considers himself an active part in the production of knowledge and sees the books as one source among many. "
If it is true that "the Internet said" has taken in children the authority of a ruling by the Supreme Court, it is undeniable that the network is the home of real-like. "The Internet is redefining the boundaries of truth - Shah continues - and this poses great challenges for educatori del XXI secolo: come si fa a imparare utilizzando fonti che non hanno approvazione istituzionale? Come si può riconoscere un valido provider di conoscenza nel caos online?".
Anche il professore della Bicocca ammette che "la cut-and-paste culture e la presunzione di veridicità della Rete" tendono ad abbassare la percezione critica degli utenti: "Internet diventa per i bambini "la fonte" a prescindere dall'autorevolezza del sito e da chi scrive", dice.
Se passa il modello Wikipedia, crolla l'importanza dell'autore. O, come ha scritto l'antropologa Susan D. Blum sul New York Times, "se per lo studente non è fondamentale essere unico, va bene usare parole di altri. Dice cose a cui non crede? Then it's ok to write books on subjects unfamiliar with the sole purpose of making a good grade: knowledge has become a means of obtaining consents and sociability. "
For the moment, the most interesting digital learning about the older brothers. From Next year American college campus in 2500 will come a software for PCs, mobile phones and iPad (the cost ranges from 30 to 70 dollars and the largest producer is the Turning Technologies) called "clickers," which allows the teacher to check the level of attention Student - immersed in Internet access - asking feedback on the keyboard every 15 minutes. Harvard professor Charles Nesson has taught a course on the virtual Second Life while the project of civic education "YouMedia", sponsored by the Chicago, promotes learning through video-tell book publishing.
In Woodside High School, in California, students have scholarships to buy the iPad, a multimedia center for three million dollars and lessons on how to record music and use the Internet responsibly. Thanks to cheap computers in the computer guru Nicholas Negroponte, all Uruguayan children have a primary PC.
In Europe - which has the digital competence in fourth place (after the first language, foreign language and mathematics and science) between the skills Education key to EU member states - the country more "digital natives oriented" is England, where the reform of the education required by the Blair government has drastically reduced the number of students per class, thus customizing teaching, and cut the number of subjects. "It has been said Paolo Ferri, - from a model specification based on the contents to the same competence that is based on a principle: learning to learn." Ferri points out that the interactive whiteboard is present in 100% of primary and secondary English classes while in Italy you get one point out of ten by 2011. Here the road is still uphill.
The Ministry of Education carries out the project LIM, which is the introduction di lavagne interattive nelle aule, e quello Cl@ssi 2.0 che punta a finanziare con 30mila euro 156 classi (in Italia ci sono circa 25mila scuole) delle scuole medie inferiori per lo sviluppo di progetti innovativi. "C'è una grande carenza di investimenti dall'alto - denuncia Ferri - arginata da qualche dirigente di buona volontà". Per il professore della Bicocca è a livello territoriale, grazie all'autonomia scolastica e alle capacità manageriali e creative di qualche preside, che si vedono i migliori esperimenti.
A Bollate, un comune di 37 mila abitanti alle porte di Milano, per imparare a usare l'iPad basta chiedere aiuto a un bambino. Nelle aule dell'Istituto di via Brianza - due scuole elementari e due medie inferiori - al posto di quadernetti e matite, da settembre gli alunni usano il tablet computer prodotto dalla Apple.
Qualche centinaia di chilometri più a Sud, a Reggio Emilia - la città dove tutti vorrebbero avere 3 anni per quel "Reggio Approach", lodato dal New York Times (parole d'ordine: arte, assemblee di classe e respiro globale), che ha fatto guadagnare al capoluogo emiliano il titolo di capitale mondiale degli asili nido - software, dispositivi elettronici e lavagne interattive hanno ormai sostituito seggioloni e orsacchiotti.
Bollate e Reggio non sono residui di una bizzarra avanguardia pedagogica, il cui simbolo cinematografico è ancora "Bianca" di Nanni Moretti, con le vicende della scuola "Marylin Monroe" where instead of pictures of the President of the Republic there 'Dino Zoff and professors play the slot machines and pinball. Rather demonstrate that there are, even in Italy, principals and teachers who understand who they are and how to teach the digital natives.
"But the result is a map of innovation patchy," says Ferri, who is optimistic, however. Firstly, because in 2013 will retire half of the Italian teachers, the other because he believes in the positive contagion: "In 10 years, the schools keep pace with social change and technological change, and funding awarded for this high number enrollment, have forced the others to adapt. " A hope? No, a duty. Why "innovate innovate innovate", the famous mantra of Hal Varian of Google News, is the only chance of survival for the Italian school.
serena.danna ilsole24ore.com @ twitter @ 24people January 2, 2011
