Michael Wesch was voted the coolest guy of 2008. He's a Cultural Anthropologist who has been studying the implications of the new media and technology on our culture.
While living and studying with a remote indigenous tribe in New Guinea, he witnessed how the introduction of a new media caused fundamental changes in the tribe's cultural norms and in the very nature of interpersonal relationships. Once it was introduced, there was no going back. Shift happened-all because this culture was introduced to the written word!
This phenomenon of change is happening right here, right now; there is no opting out.
Digital media and technology are changing basic assumptions about knowledge and relationships.
So how can we help our students as they negotiate their way through this changing landscape?
Wesch suggest that we move forward with open eyes; revisit our educational practices so that our students are “open, caring, daring, voracious learners,” who are "knowledge-able as opposed to knowledgeable." Anything about that familiar to Montessori? How will this impact Montessori classroom environments?
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