I know a bit about teaching about computers/programming to kids in the first years of high school. Their understanding of anything computer is abysmal. They have grown up with smartphones and maybe tablet, never were able to tinker with anything. Even just what internet is was confusing to them. It had to be reframed as “when can you watch youtube” for it to make sense…
Great read, exactly what I experienced. On the other hand, we also really want to think about what knowledge is really important. Is knowing the difference between Internet and World Wide Web necessary? Or is programming in a random language? Knowledge is power, but there is just so much you can learn. Starting knowing that you don’t know and it’s not magic is, to me, already a great step, because from there you can learn. Expecting everything to be prepackaged is instead a very passive approach, and that should be discouraged.
Yeah, that “what to absolutely learn” line needs to be established. Basic knowledge of fixing and troubleshooting absolutely should be taught, while scripting and programming is probably not a high priority for many people. Maybe financial/business interested students could learn some scripting, but art and literature students won’t really care.
I’m Gen Z, and I cringe at both my classmates and alpha-cusp cousins, my millennial aunts, my xillenial dad, and my boomer grandparents, one of which taught college classes on how to use computers back in the 80s, so idk what happened there…
In the case of my classmates, I can understand that if you’re too poor to have a home computer with Windows or Mac, then you won’t have many opportunities for computer literacy, cause we used heavily locked-down Chromebooks from 5-12th grade, and while my college library has Windows desktops, I’m not sure if the rental laptops are Windows or Chrome. But grown adults had computer lab, so what happened there?
But still, I’ve seen mind numbing shit like using the caps key instead of shift when typing (ON PURPOSE, by the way), not using any kind of ad block, not knowing where shit is in phone settings, hell, asking for chargers is “iPhone or Android charger” or “round or flat charger” instead of USB C or lightning.
Troubleshooting is such a big one! Like, you should be able to distinguish between a “I can fix it” issue, a “somebody can fix it” issue and a “my computer burned to the ground” situation… and act accordingly. I’m also okay with the first option being very limited! But please Google your problem until you vaguely understand what’s wrong.
From the educators perspective, they get a lot more brain rot. They dropped in in-person socialization, long and medium term concentration and literacy of any type. I haven’t heard any positives yet… but I also fear that with every year, I am getting closer to the trope of “back in my days”-shake walking cane. So, hopefully someone comes to tell me I’m missing something
I know a bit about teaching about computers/programming to kids in the first years of high school. Their understanding of anything computer is abysmal. They have grown up with smartphones and maybe tablet, never were able to tinker with anything. Even just what internet is was confusing to them. It had to be reframed as “when can you watch youtube” for it to make sense…
Anytime this topic comes up, I reshare this blog post. With things being “that bad” over a decade ago, I can’t imagine how much worse it’s gotten.
http://www.coding2learn.org/blog/2013/07/29/kids-cant-use-computers/
Great read, exactly what I experienced. On the other hand, we also really want to think about what knowledge is really important. Is knowing the difference between Internet and World Wide Web necessary? Or is programming in a random language? Knowledge is power, but there is just so much you can learn. Starting knowing that you don’t know and it’s not magic is, to me, already a great step, because from there you can learn. Expecting everything to be prepackaged is instead a very passive approach, and that should be discouraged.
Yeah, that “what to absolutely learn” line needs to be established. Basic knowledge of fixing and troubleshooting absolutely should be taught, while scripting and programming is probably not a high priority for many people. Maybe financial/business interested students could learn some scripting, but art and literature students won’t really care.
I’m Gen Z, and I cringe at both my classmates and alpha-cusp cousins, my millennial aunts, my xillenial dad, and my boomer grandparents, one of which taught college classes on how to use computers back in the 80s, so idk what happened there…
In the case of my classmates, I can understand that if you’re too poor to have a home computer with Windows or Mac, then you won’t have many opportunities for computer literacy, cause we used heavily locked-down Chromebooks from 5-12th grade, and while my college library has Windows desktops, I’m not sure if the rental laptops are Windows or Chrome. But grown adults had computer lab, so what happened there?
But still, I’ve seen mind numbing shit like using the caps key instead of shift when typing (ON PURPOSE, by the way), not using any kind of ad block, not knowing where shit is in phone settings, hell, asking for chargers is “iPhone or Android charger” or “round or flat charger” instead of USB C or lightning.
Troubleshooting is such a big one! Like, you should be able to distinguish between a “I can fix it” issue, a “somebody can fix it” issue and a “my computer burned to the ground” situation… and act accordingly. I’m also okay with the first option being very limited! But please Google your problem until you vaguely understand what’s wrong.
Like kids back in the 1980s ☺️ many couldn’t even read a floppy on the C64!
I wonder if they, I mean today’s kids, learn other things we miss out on.
From the educators perspective, they get a lot more brain rot. They dropped in in-person socialization, long and medium term concentration and literacy of any type. I haven’t heard any positives yet… but I also fear that with every year, I am getting closer to the trope of “back in my days”-shake walking cane. So, hopefully someone comes to tell me I’m missing something