May 6, 2007

The second half of the long article! :o)

The fifth skill described was multi-tasking which does seem to be ever more essential in our fast paced world. I agree that multi-tasking is at times an efficient way to accomplish many tasks, but I think that when tasks are completed this way less attention is given to each task, which may or may not matter. For example driving, eating lunch and talking on a cell phone is indeed multi-tasking but it puts the driver at a much higher risk (four times more likely) of being in an accident. Yet a school secretary who is able to greet a parent, get ice for an injured first grader, and hand a teacher the correct form he is looking for all in less than a minute is multi-tasking in a positive (and necessary) way.

My best friend in college is a master multi-tasker, and while I was always impressed at her ability to accomplish many tasks there were times when I wished she could stop everything else she was doing and focus entirely on our conversation. Multi-tasking is an essential skill, yet it should not completely take over the areas of our life where concentrated attention and reflection are needed.

Distributed Cognition comes from the viewpoint that devices such as spell checkers, spreadsheets and calculators work together with natural human abilities to create intelligence, instead of being seen as “cheating” or the “easy way”. One thing that is a bit frustrating to me about this article is that the classroom application ideas are almost all geared toward upper elementary/middle and high school students. I think the ideas sound interesting, I just wish there were more at the primary level so that I could picture what exactly I can do as a Kindergarten teacher to help teach these skills.

My first thought regarding Collective Intelligence was that individuality would become lost in the merging of minds, reminding me of Star Trek’s “Blog”, and their refrain “Resistance is futile.” Especially after reading the posting from a member of Cloudmakers that said: “The 7500+ people in this group…we are all one. We have made manifest the idea of an unbelievably intricate intelligence. We are one mind, one voice…made of 7500+ neurons…”

Personally I enjoy my individuality and my own unique mind and thoughts, and the idea of being “one mind and one voice” isn’t appealing to me!But after working on our videos for class last week, and comparing that teamwork to “collective intelligence” I came to the conclusion that it can be positive working together and sharing ideas, and does not have to be all encompassing and identity changing like a cult! I think students working together, sharing ideas and learning from each other is indeed an essential skill to prepare them for life.

I see the eighth skill of judgment as extremely important as students gain much of their information from online sources. I found it encouraging that Wikipedia was found to be as the Encyclopedia Britannica! Yet students still need to understand that anyone can post anything, so that all information may not be factual at all times :o). Critical thinking skills are necessary to consider the source of all information consumed, and as the article states “who is presenting what to whom, and why”.

This is something that I became keenly aware of in 2003 in the beginning of the Iraq war. I was in Mexico from January to June, and then in El Salvador through July. The news reports about the war that I watched in those countries (and the response from the people) were almost entirely negative. Yet in the beginning of the war in the USA many people were hopeful and supportive of the war, and the media portrayed a much rosier picture. This helped me understand how the same “facts” are portrayed in much different ways depending on by whom, and for whom they are presented.

The next skill discussed was transmedia navigation, understanding a character or story across many levels and modalities. The idea about students in literature classes comparing retellings of a fairy tale, myth or legend is indeed something that I can and have done in Kindergarten! We have compared several of the many versions of Cinderella, as well as The Three Little Pigs including African American and Latin versions. I think this is very good for our students of non-Caucasian heritage to see that their favorite characters do not always have to have blond hair, blue eyes and snow-white skin!

Networking is described as the ability to search for, understand and use information. Many search systems are given as examples. I did enjoy the quote from “The Wisdom of Crowds” on page 51, which refers once again to collective intelligence with the four key qualities that make a crowd smart: diversity, everyone as equals, a way to summarize opinions collectively and individual independence. Sounds good to me!

Negotiation, understanding multiple perspectives and diverse people and beliefs is also very important in our multi-cultural society. It is very true that “Culture travels easily, but the individuals who initially produced and consumed such culture are not always welcome everywhere it circulates.” (page 52) For example, many people eagerly consume tacos and enchiladas, yet are much less eager to welcome Hispanic people to our country.

I think the idea of group deliberation and decision-making instead of a pro-con debate is a good idea, to help lesson tensions instead of highlighting them. Also it is always essential for students to learn to “agree to disagree” because a unified decision will not always be reached, it is important to respect differing opinions.

Overall I think while this was a LONG article it did have good information! The central ideas of helping each child develop the skills and experiences to be successful in society, while learning to express themselves and their ideas, along with developing ethical standards are very important for teachers to be aware of and to teach!