does technology help students follow current events?
I teach "critical thinking" and "sociology" and "interpersonal communication," and I am APPALLED at the students' incredible lack of knowledge of current events, and also at the incredible rate at which they buy into conspiracy theories and crap like "mermaids" and "haunted houses." I make it my life's work to help them realize that what sneakers Kobe Bryant wore this week, or what Beyonce said last night, IS NOT ALL THAT IMPORTANT! I try to flood them with information that is really valuable. I give a little "quiz" at the beginning of each class, to give credit to those who get there on time. (It's very effective, by the way.) I include questions like "How many inches in a foot?" "How many weeks in a year?" "What state is just north of Florida?" "How many nickels in ten dollars?" "What is the freezing point of water?" Most of them don't know anything, but they seem to enjoy acquiring this random knowledge. We joke about using it "the next time you go on Jeopardy," but it brings home to them how little common, everyday information they actually know. Last week I handed out a map of the USA and had them try to fill in the states. Class average was eleven. They joked about using GPS, but a lot of them were truly glad to have the practice again.
I teach interior design so I know how disconserting it can be when students don't understand even basic measurements. I try to get them interested in that type of information and also current events by always talking about interacting with clients after they complete school. They are interested in making money and having a successful business and I find tying that motivation to the need to be familiar with things other than pop culture gives them a reason to expand their interests.
Annette McCarthy
In answer to the question,it certainly should.It seems that we dont want to handle paper any longer.Most every one wants to get everything from some type of CRT SCREEN.
Nicole,
this is a great idea & helping them see how they can use the various social media outlets to stay in touch with the world is a great lesson.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I teach business, marketing, sourcing and entrepreneurship classes primarily, and I tend to kick off class engaging students in open discussions about current events. I encourage unique opinions, interesting facts, politics (mild ones), and any other global to local factors that may influence these subjects. I think the students enjoy learning something during the course of the week to talk about in class, and they share and learn about more events than they would usually be aware of. Generally, I use these facts from our discussions at the beginning of class as examples within my lectures! The added benefit is that they love the fact that I learn something new each day along with them!
Lissa,
another idea along with that is that you can perhaps use cell phones as the way to quiz them.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
This is a great idea! I have given "pop" quizzes to students to kind of wake them up. But the info is rarely fun. I will be changing up the quiz content. Thanks.
John,
it helps them engage more readily with the material & can also help with accountability for any homework or daily prereading.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
The idea of using pre-class quizes as "admission" to class is and excellent one. I can definitely see this as a way of promoting a lead-off discussion about the topic for the day.
My students also are ignorant of current events and basic information like weights and measures, capitals and states, and countries and continents. In a design course,a student must be able to measure their patterns,garments,forms and models in fractions of an inch. Each term, I must include in a demonstration and homework assignment on how to read a ruler/tape measure; 1/32", 1/8", 1/4", 1/2", 1" etc. Even after the demo and assignment, the students still have difficulty applying these measurements in their projects. Next term, I am going to find a way to incorporate technology into the homework assignment to see if this will help them grasp and apply this basic concept to their projects.
Mark,
this is a great idea & activity as it can also help the students be prepared to learn the more "important" information that you will share with them in the course of the class.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
