3 Traits: Knowledge – Skills – Abilities Engaging Screenagers
3 Traits: Knowledge – Skills – Abilities Engaging Screenagers
Recently I read a New York Times, article titled How Google Took Over The Classroom, and in the article the author mentioned the knowledge vs. skills debate in education.
Google is helping to drive a philosophical change in public education — prioritizing training children in skills like teamwork and problem-solving while de-emphasizing the teaching of traditional academic knowledge, like math formulas. It puts Google, and the tech economy, at the center of one of the great debates that has raged in American education for more than a century: whether the purpose of public schools is to turn out knowledgeable citizens or skilled workers.
The thing is I don’t know if I agree and I don’t know if I disagree, and that isn’t being wishy washy because (academic) knowledge and (teamwork and problem solving) skills are both important.
What if we could emphasize both by teaching in a different way?
What good are skills if one has no knowledge and understanding to apply those skills?
As an educator I want to include the third component which is attitude or confidence or desire and for this blog we will call that ability.
Don't you know someone who knows how to exercise and has the skills to exercise, but that person is somehow never able (to find the time, energy, etc.) to exercise?
In education why can’t we just use eWorkbooks in the classroom, so students are building search and critical thinking skills, gaining knowledge, and because they are using their mobile devices they are developing their abilities.
Trait 1: Knowledge learning with eWorkbooks
Foundation: We’ve worked with older and quite young children using eWorkbooks on Chromebooks and even the little ones catch on quite quickly so you can build their foundation knowledge. (optimal engagement)
Relational: As you can use eWorkbooks to give the students more responsibility for learning, the students show great curiosity as they begin to see relationships among foundations of knowledge with eWorkbooks.
Abstract: Once learners build foundation and relational knowledge bases, abstract knowledge is much easier to grasp as eWorkbooks can give real-time feedback to the learners so you can support this higher level knowledge.
Trait 2: Skill building with eWorkbooks
Data/search: Interestingly in graduate school, one of the first skill sets students are taught to build information and data search skills to find sources for higher learning, and you can enhance these same skills for your learners. (optimal engagement)
Collaborating: Because eWorkbooks are on the students’ mobile devices, you can enhance your students’ sharing and collaborating by giving them cooperative, comparative, or opposing points as they answer questions or curate examples.
Critical thinking and problem solving: By using eWorkbooks, students answer questions or curate examples and then they use critical thinking skills explain their how examples can be applied, combined, and synthesized to solve problems.
Trait 3 Ability development with eWorkbooks
Attitude: Although many students resist using their devices to learn at first, they tend to pick up the power of their devices and before long you can see them grabbing their device for learning right away when they want to know something in class. (optimal engagement)
Confidence: When you can give your students real-time feedback, they see their Moments of Growth and know where they are strong and not strong, and with this knowledge you can boost confidence in learners.
Persistence: Based on the social atmosphere you create when using eWorkbooks, students don’t feel they are all alone and with that group support, they show much more persistence to continue as they overcome obstacles.
Engagement background before eWorkbooks
As a trainer and university lecturer in the USA, I had great success in my training and classrooms by engaging my learners in ways I had learned from my Dale Carnegie Instructor Training. (optimal engagement)
After earning my Doctoral Degree researching engaging instruction in adult education and training and development, I started a training business in Hong Kong.
But something was wrong, I was struggling in this new culture (I’ve a cattle rancher’s son from Colorado, USA) to find ways to inspire and motivate my students in Hong Kong.
In the classroom, I preferred having students engage in learning activities instead of lecturing.
I struggled through trying several paper worksheets and workbooks to guide students, but I wasn’t getting the results I wanted. (junk engagement)
When the smart phone with the ability to search the internet came along, I could see my students were curating (searching, finding, collecting, commenting, changing, and sharing.)
I thought, “Why not do that for learning?”, so I started asking them to answer questions, interact with information and classmates, and go find examples of the learning content using their mobile devices.
eWorkbook development and success
I began searching for possibilities and I struggled testing several apps, until we created best practices using eWorkbooks, and after testing them, began to use eWorkbooks full time in class.
Then we used eWorkbooks (Google Forms with the training slides as well as interactive questions, curating links and tasks, example images and videos, etc.
Students [Engaging Screenagers] completed eWorkbooks using their mobile devices) as they were learning interactively.
Students used eWorkbooks to while I lead the discussion and guided them, and after they submitted their answers, they would get their responses sent to their inbox so they could review their learning Moments of Growth. (optimal engagement)
Because the students’ responses from eWorkbooks go right into a spreadsheet in real-time, as the teacher I can monitor what students are doing to give them guidance in the moment, as well as track their learning develop over time.
Isn’t it great when you can boost knowledge – skills – abilities in your Engaging Screenagers?
Wouldn’t it be nice for you to monitor how all three of these traits are developed in your learners?
Won’t we hinder our learners’ lifelong learning when we force them to learn the old fashioned way?
Use eWorkbooks knowledge-skills-abilities to boost learning.
Remember, come join tomorrow to see more Improving Your Engagement with Screenagers and others inspirational experiences and ideas for Optimal Engagement in the ScreenAge.
Remember to engage tomorrow.
Following with you.
Keep it simple.
All the Best, Warren
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