Feb. 6, 09: Nature-Defict Disorder (blog post of my choice)

As mentioned in my blog of January 31, I was upset by the two readings for that day. I was especially upset by the reading, Engage Me or Enrage Me, in its one-sided and blanket description of today's 'wired generation of children' with the sole purpose of telling educators that to educate today's children we and the learning process itself must also become wired. I fundamentally disagree with the logic behind the author's argument that because today's students are wired there is a need for pedagogical change for "some damned good curricular gameplay for our students" in order to engage today's students in learning. Yes, today's children are a wired generation and this does present us as educators and parents with a call to change but I believe the change we need is not to follow suit and become ever more wired but to take students and our children and their education in the opposite direction—not toward a more wired future, but toward a future more connected to the natural world and real-world relationships with other people and living world around us. Of further upset and to connect to our f2f meeting of Jan. 31 on truth and bias in information, I found the article Engage Me or Enrage Me very biased and subsequently its conclusion calling for wired classrooms weak. Looking at the purpose of the article and its author (two factors to assess truth and bias from Jan. 31), we can see that Marc Prensky, the author of the article, is also the author of Digital Game-Based Learning and the founder and CEO of Games2train, a game-based learning company. The purpose of the article is clearly to persuade educators of the need for change, to invest on some "good curricular gameplay". In consideration of these two factors and truth and bias of information, I would encourage my own students to question the validity of this article (as I myself did) when seeking information to determine the best pedagogical direction to meet the learning needs of today's students. In conclusion, looking at the subtitle of the article—"What today's learners demand"—I am reminded of what all adults (teachers and parents) know: what children demand (want) is not always what they need.

I also have a bias which you can see if you read my blog's profile. As a parent and educator I see our chidren disconnected from other people, other living things, from the natural world when connected to the wired world of today. It's like an addiction (a drug) that negatively affects their mental, social, spiritual, and physical health and takes them away from the people and relationships and natural world around them. Educators, parents and adults I admire have taken themselves and their children and students away from the wired world and back to nature. Their is a beauty, an honesty, a realness or purpose and spirituality in nature that we all need. To have a more balanced view of this upcoming technological revolution in education, I would encourage all parents and educators to read Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv to see perhaps what today's children really need. Below is a quoted excerpt from this linked page that provides an overview of the book and nature deficit disorder and the impact its discussion has had on educators and parents...

"In this influential work about the staggering divide between children and the outdoors, child advocacy expert Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today's wired generation—he calls it nature-deficit—to some of the most disturbing childhood trends, such as the rises in obesity, attention disorders, and depression.

Last Child in the Woods is the first book to bring together a new and growing body of research indicating that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development and for the physical and emotional health of children and adults."

If you are interested in learning more about the book and 'Leave No Child Inside' initiatives throughout the USA I would direct you to Richard Louv's website and listen to Louv on the npr morning addition. argue that kids are so plugged into television and video games that they've lost their connection to the natural world.

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