News Anti Internet Dinosaur

[rynnor]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-18410520

I dont think I could disagree more tbh - if children dont read beyond the surface on a topic its because they arent interested in it. Paradoxically if they find something interesting you can find a great depth of material on the Internet.

Perhaps they just need guidance on how to effectively search the net?

Personally I read a lot of scientific papers and the internet is fantastic for these (aside from some paywall issues) - if not for the net I would have to travel to a University library and dig through ancient journals hoping to find the volumes I need.

 

[Shagrat]

Completely agree rynnor, it all comes down to education. Yes searches can be frivolous and instant, by used in the rght way they can be a great resource.

 

[old.Tohtori]

She has a point, unfortunate for her the point is wrong

The problem is with schools still being a closed environment for copy/paste work, where your brain is filled with info which you then puke on the exam paper to get an arbitrary score on the amount of puke on it.

Also people should realize that the interwebs is easy to use, not easy to master. Finding sh*t is a learned skill, not given.

 

[Tom]

She'd have a point if half the world's history wasn't locked up behind rigid paywall structures like JSTOR. God that fucking annoys me.

 

[Raven]

Nothing wrong with using the internet as a source for information, so long as you don't just take whatever is put on Wikipedia as fact but actually look at the sources and do some of your own research...especially within education.

 

[DaGaffer]

Nothing wrong with using the internet as a source for information, so long as you don't just take whatever is put on Wikipedia as fact but actually look at the sources and do some of your own research...especially within education.

As Tom says, the problem is that you usually eventually hit a primary source behind a paywall somewhere. Having said that, there is definitely a skill to online research that should be taught (like trying to corroborate facts from multiple sources for instance, its amazing how many people believe the first thing the see on google).

As for what this woman is saying; I'm a bit torn. She probably has a point that online makes it too easy to learn surface information without getting deeper context; but on the other hand, the education system itself encourages a culture where you do just enough to pass an exam rather than actually learn a subject, so she can hardly criticise kids for being efficient.

 

[Access Denied]

What a load of bollocks she's talking. Can't disagree more with her and ant agree more with everyone in this thread. Especially Tom, all they tea h you in school is how to pass an exam. Truly learning about a subject takes willingness and work form the student and always has done.

Besides Google search, when used properly can often get round paywalls.

 

[rynnor]

On another point - you dont really want kids to specialise too much too early or they end up one sided.

I deal with plenty of Academics who have specialised in incredibly narrow fields and are largely lost outside of that specialism. I respect that focus but its not something you expect to see in education before Masters/PhD level.

 

[rynnor]

As for what this woman is saying; I'm a bit torn. She probably has a point that online makes it too easy to learn surface information without getting deeper context; but on the other hand, the education system itself encourages a culture where you do just enough to pass an exam rather than actually learn a subject, so she can hardly criticise kids for being efficient.

I think thats the issue lazy teachers have - in the past much testing/set work has just been - go find out about x and parrot it back - search engines just showed up how pointless this is when even a dumb algorithm can do it.

I dont think teachers have yet adjusted to this - they need to be setting more analysis and less factual recall.