Every week a new webtool pops up. This week I watched a short video about Dabble DB which promises to combine “the best of group spreadsheets, custom databases, and intranet web applications into a new way to manage and share your information on the web.”
Cool.
Then I read about getting back to basics and teaching kids wordprocessing skills so that they can function in a wired world. One writer went so far as to rubbish the idea of kids making movies and slideshows because that’s not what’s done in the real world.
For certain, it would be great so see more people become more comfortable with a keyboard and to be able to use more than one finger when they type. But, hey, the Intermediate school kid in this house has never been taught how to type. He can type a report or story very quickly (just like he can IM or text message very quickly).
Back to slideshows and movies. And spreadsheets and databases. And web applications.
A few months ago we hosted a couple of Canadian women from the Galileo Foundation. I can’t remember which of the women said it, Dr Pat Clifford or Dr Sharon Freisen, but the point that they made was about children being able to present in the “media of their times“.
That idea really struck a chord with me. Kids today are surrounded by all sorts of media that is very different to the media that surrounds us as adults. Have you ever watched kids’ TV and seen the way that things are presented? It’s very different to the dinner-time news that we watch. Kids magazines are really different to the periodicals that I read. Their music is different. Not better or worse just different.
This week I worked with a teacher and some great kids to make a couple of very short movies. The kids had all sorts of ideas and ways to do things. The teacher knew how to do things and how to organise and structure information. He also knew how to get the best from his kids without slowing or stopping their creativity.
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