Piaget Walks into a Room...

10/27/2014

The cup that is already full cannot have more added to it. In order to receive the further good to which we are entitled, we must give of that which we have.
Margaret Becker

"Imagine that Maria Montessori, Jean Piaget, B.F. Skinner [and Lev Vygotsky] walked into the speaker ready room before their panel at the NAEYC Annual Conference, posits Warren Bucklietner in his chapter, "What Would Maria Montessori Say about the iPad?" in the new NAEYC publication, Technology and Digital Media in the Early Years. Buckleitner uses this clever device to explore how digital play and learning stack up versus the theories of these great thinkers who shaped our profession:

"Montessori is angry. 'I typed my last name into iTunes and came up with 500 apps! Some are good, but others are merely low-rate flash cards.' 'Really though, what's the harm with the occasional flash card, as long as it's used with a reward?' asks Skinner. Montessori's cheeks are flushed with emotion. 'Some of these apps don't go deeper than the lowest level ideas — shapes, colors, letters, and numbers....

"Piaget nods in the direction of Skinner. 'She has reason to be angry, B.F. Some of these apps imply the acceleration of development, even for infants. We should all be concerned with app quality.... I've notice that my own daughters now prefer their iPads to the observation of mollusks! But I've been observing them as they play and I'm pleased to report that my stage theory maps well to this digital medium.... A child born 100 years ago developed in much the same way as a child born this year. What is different in 2013 are the experiences due to the technology. Candlelight can be provided by LEDs. But still we have the choice of real candles. Parents have genetic screening, antibiotics, and their babies can have bedtime stories read by grandparents who live half a continent or half a world away.

"Vygotsky quietly adds, 'Mobile devices help ideas flow across the geographic and economic chasms. Services like Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter can move ideas from Leningrad to San Francisco at the speed of light.' He starts getting very excited. 'The knowledge elite could dissolve. Every teacher could have a virtual mentor and unlimited professional development. That, my friends, is worth getting excited about."

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