"Kids today spend over 6 hours per day interaction with television, video games, the Internet, instant messaging, email, and other media." (page 113)
I would like to know why parents are letting their children spend that much time on some type of technology. What ever happened to playing out side with your friends or using your imagination while making a fort in the basement. If a child gets home from school between 3:15-5:30pm and are then spending 6 or more hours at night with some sort of technology, that means that they are not getting to bed till some time after 9:30pm or later. Children need their sleep and if they don't get any sleep because they are up playing video games or instant messaging all night long then they are going to most likely fall asleep during school the next day. Parents who let their child(ren) do this need to realize what they are doing and start setting a time limit that the child can play video games, watch TV, use the computer, etc. Parents should make sure homework is getting done first before anything else and then limiting the time limit some of the activities that child is going to do that night. Teachers are doing their best, but they can help the child learn even more when the parents are reinforcing good study habits at home.
"One curriculum design that we favor is using technology to help students focus their learning around their goals and interests. Such schools would place students in curricula based on their goals and interest, rather than on their ages or on the prevailing curriculum of their schools." (page 117)
I had never heard of this design till I read this book. I think that this design would be appropriate for high school and maybe middle school. I still think that elementary school should be taught the same way with students grouped by their age groups. I think this would be great for students in high school who know what they want to do and those who do not know what they want to do later in life. Those who know what career they would like to go into would be able to jump start their college career by possibly taking AP courses during their high school career. I also see this being beneficial to those who don't know what they want to do for a career, as they could pick a couple areas that they are interested in and take a sampling of those courses that would give them an idea of what kind of career they could choose from. I don't think that this design would be seen in public schools nation wide, I think that it would be seen in specialty schools.
"Outside the realm of standards-based subject matter, games can also help students develop interpersonal and leadership skills. Massively multi-player online games, such as World of Warcraft, allow players to solve complex problems involving strategy, logistics, and resource allocation." (page 119)
This quote shows that these games kids play can actually be teaching them something. There are many games that allow kids to play as a character and they are able to make friends with other characters and some of these friendships spread to real life. It is just not a good idea for parents to let their child play World of Warcraft or any other video game for a whole entire Saturday. Children still need to be active and need to use other parts of their brain and body for activities other than playing video games. Everything is good for you in moderation.
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