Techlearning blog

Delight of all delights: I've started teaching Kindergarteners this year in the Computer Lab! I have the K's all day every Friday and it is the very best ending to a week. This opportunity is now possible because my district has just gone to full-day K.

I must admit, when I started two weeks ago, I had no idea what to expect. It's been a while since I've worked directly with this age group, and that was definitely in the "pre-computer" days. I didn't know what their mouse expertise would be, or how many of them have would have previous experience with the Internet, or whether they'd be able to last the 45 minutes focused on the various activities I planned (right now, we start with a guest visit from one of my puppet friends, the lesson, time with the activity, and end with a book). Well, right out of the gate, they did incredible, and of course have awed me with the skills they bring. I did an informal survey ("Raise your hand") and most of them have a computer at home and are allowed to use it. The results (if valid) are better than what I've learned from the older students. Many of them have computers at home but, alas, are not allowed to use them.

Sigh...

Skills are wonderful, and I was relieved to find that they all knew at least basic mouse skills, but that is not what I went home with to share at the dinner table that first day. What really "blew me away"- --what I couldn't stop talking about--- was their fearlessness. They dove right in, weren't afraid to ask for help, weren't afraid to get out of their seats to go over and help a friend, and most importantly, weren't afraid to try things.

It seems a paradox to me, but what I've found is the younger the student, the less afraid they are to try things. Why is that? I've seen many 4th graders sit at a black screen (when their machines are asleep) and do absolutely nothing to try and wake it up. They sit passively and wait until I come near so they can report something like, "Mine's not working." I then encourage them to "try something" ---anything--- and tell them that they won't break the machine. I've yet to see this with any first grader, and not one Kindergartner needed help waking his/her machine on that first day. But wait a minute... aren't these 4th graders also "digital immigrants?" What's up here? Is there a correlation between my informal survey findings of not being allowed to use the computer at home and sitting passively at the black screen waiting for someone else to jump start your adventure?

It's not that the K's showed up worry-free. I met many of them before they came to the lab, introduced myself, and told them a little bit about what we'd be doing with the Computers. Several students from each class voiced their concerns about working with computers and that they were nervous. I assured them we'd have plenty of fun. One of the K Teachers told me that after our first lesson a student of hers said, "I was worried about working with those "Pooters", but I'm starting to get the hang of it."

What I think is at play here is that these students are benefiting from their lack of experience. See, they haven't been told yet that computers are complicated and difficult and frustrating and filled with viruses and bugs. Or if they've been told, it's been in the abstract, and they haven't been convinced yet.

At the beginning of this year, I had numerous teachers asking me when I would come to their classroom and "plug in their computers." I politely told them that they "would figure it out" (not because it's not my job, but because I'm working on "cutting the cord" to enabling). One teacher told me blatantly that the computers would "sit there all year then." I suggested she get some students to show her. 2 cords: power, Internet.

But I don't blame her for her trepidation. She represents many professionals that I know who will tell you straight up that they can't "even plug the thing in." Somehow, this view that computers are complicated and only conquered by the few (geeks) has permeated our society. How did computers gain such power over us? Is it all HAL's fault?

Over ten years ago, Seymour Papert wrote The Connected Family to try and smash this myth that computers are something to be feared and that programming is only for the few. He also reminded us that "technology is going out into the world in a state of marginal readiness," and that knowing this at the outset will help with many frustrations. People expect it to work, and I think that when it doesn't, many feel out of control rather than empowered to "get under the hood". Thus, the technology seems to control us, rather than us controlling the technology.

I realize that pulling all of us out of these misplaced fears and misconceptions about technology takes time. One way to speed up that process is for us to make sure that we don't diminish at all what those Kindergartners already have. I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Mitch Resnick from MIT at this past summer's Building Learning Communities conference (podcast of the talk here). The group that Dr. Resnick works with at MIT is called, "Lifelong Kindergarten", named to encourage the continuation of the "kindergarten style of learning": designing, creating, experimenting, and exploring.

I'd like to add risk taking to that list.

On the first day of teaching the K's, one boy was brought into the lab by the principal an hour before his class was scheduled. She did this because she was working on helping him with his anxiety and tears due to missing his mom and being away from home for the full day. The minute he stepped into the lab, he brightened, seeing all the computers. I crouched down and talked to him, asking him if he liked computers, had one at home, got to use it. He started telling me all about ToonTown, a site that is basically a MMORPG for kids. This was the first time I had heard of a child this young playing the game. The Disney site suggests ages 7 and up and here was a 5 year old who was an expert at it. He went into a sophisticated explanation of all the complicated components of the game. I was impressed, and I could see the principal was too. I asked the student how long he'd been playing the game, and my principal jokingly said, "Probably ten years."

The boy, who had been so fearful only moments before, threw back his head with confidence, looked up at the principal and boldly declared, "Oh, way more than 10 years!"

And he's right. He got the hang of it long ago. Hopefully we'll catch up with him.