1. Teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) to Today’s Digital Natives
Edward M. Reeve, Ph.D
Utah State University
Interim Vice Provost for International Education
Professor, Department of Engineering & Technology Education (ETE)

2. Introduction What can STEM teachers do?
According to the National Science Board's report "Science and Engineering Indicators 2006," American students perform among the lowest internationally in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Some observers say schools do not adequately prepare students for careers in these fields, resulting in a significant lack of student interest.
What can STEM teachers do?

3. What can STEM teachers do?
1. Learn about the characteristics of today’s Digital Natives.
2. Learn about the technology used by today’s Digital Natives.
3. Develop curricula that engages Digital Natives.

4. Introduction
Today’s students are digital natives – they have grown up with digital technology!
They are the generation!

5. Introduction
Most of today’s Digital Natives are technologically literate when it comes to using digital devices.
A two year old Digital Native can operate the TV VCR remote control and a 7 year old knows how to text message on a cell phone.

6. Introduction
Digital Natives come to school with their backpacks, as well as their own laptops, cell phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players.

7. Today’s Digital Natives Learn Differently
Introduction
Today’s Digital Natives Learn Differently
Each day Digital Natives spend 6.2 hours using electronic media.

8. Introduction
Today’s STEM Instructors must be prepared to teach this new generation of learners.

9. Introduction This purpose of this presentation is to review:
Characteristics of this generation.
Popular Technology & Web 2.0.
Suggestions on how to effectively teach to this generation.

10. Characteristics of Today’s Digital Natives

11. Today’s Digital Natives
Like to Cut-and-Paste.
Prefer Visual Information over Text.
Multitask all the Time.

12. Today’s Digital Natives
Digital Natives are those young people who come to our classroom with a good understanding of today’s digital technologies.

13. Today’s Digital Natives
They are skilled at using mobile phones, computers, the Internet, gaming devices (e.g., X-box), and other products based on digital technology.

14. Today’s Digital Natives
They are "on-demand," autonomous learners, proactive in determining what information they need and seeking it from the environment to meet their own self-determined goals.

15. Today’s Digital Natives
They tend to process information at twitch speed, determining what is or is not useful in a matter of seconds.

16. Today’s Digital Natives
They relate to graphics first instead of text.
They tend to learn best through trial and error.
They solves complex problems best within collaborative learning groups and in relevant settings.

17. Today’s Digital Natives
They are active participants in their learning; they "do" first and ask questions later. Failure is a necessary learning experience.

18. Today’s Digital Natives When they go home from school they may….
log onto the high-speed network on their laptop using a wireless connection
check iChat or AOL, talking online with their friends
after Googling their research topic and checking Wikipedia… write a research paper
spell-check the final paper, then pass it through Turn It In before ing it to their teacher
then create a Powerpoint presentation to show as a visual narrative in class the next day
download and share MP3 files, burn music CDs (and possibly violate some copyright laws)

19. Today’s Digital Natives When they go home from school they may….
turn on their iPods to listen to books, lectures or broadcasts they missed
get their daily news online or watch entertainment sites
add songs and manage their playlists on iTunes
watch cable TV or HBO
text their friends all evening using their cell phones or Blackberries
pick up their digital camera, film their pet doing funny things, use their Mac to edit the footage and then put it up on YouTube

20. Today’s Digital Natives When they go home from school they may….
update their Facebook page, see who has written on their wall
check favorite blogs or create a blog themselves, using free internet hosting sites
actively research material on the web, in order to write new blog posts
add images to their Flickr accounts
set up a Wiki for one of their classes so they can all share the same facts and data
spend some time gaming… XBox, Wii, Playstation

21. Today’s Digital Natives
They depend on technology daily to meet their needs.
They have developed elaborate communication systems built around this technology, which connects them instantly to any information they may seek.

22. Digital Natives & Web 2.0

23. Digital Natives Web 2.0
Today’s Digital Natives are connected, and they are also connecting to a new type of Internet that uses new technologies for communicating and sharing of information.

24. Digital Natives Web 2.0
This new Internet has been referred to by various terms including “Web 2.0” and the “social web.”

25. Digital Natives Web 2.0 - Characteristics
A Massively Connected World: Most Web 2.0 applications require that a lot of people are connected to the Internet.
The Network Effect: Software being designed to harness the “collective intelligence” of the Internet’s many users.

26. Digital Natives Web 2.0 - Characteristics
Users as Co Creators: Users become writers and creators -- they become “owners” and enhance the value of the materials.
Decentralization: Users are located all over the globe - when they act together, the combined force of their actions can have tremendous effect and influence.

27. Digital Natives Web 2.0 - Characteristics
Openness: Nonproprietary standards are making it easier to share data, software, and information.
Remixability: Software developers assemble new software by using bits and pieces of other people’s work.

28. Digital Natives Web 2.0 - Characteristics
Emergent: Web 2.0 software offers looser structures and relies on its user, rather than its designers.
Rich Experiences: Web sites are full of video, photos, and vibrant visual environments.
The Web as a Platform: Software that runs in a Web Browser is no longer slow - smoother and more reliable.

29. Digital Natives & Technology

30. Digital Natives Popular Technologies
Very Popular Technologies:
YouTube
ITunes
Facebook/MySpace
Skype
On-line Gaming

31. Digital Natives Popular Technologies
The Computer!
That’s Delicious!

33. Digital Natives Popular Technologies
Google: Google the number one search engine on the planet with many applications
What Comes After Google?
Check out Google for Educators!

35. Digital Natives Popular Technologies
Social Networking Sites: Social networking has revolutionized the way young people communicate and share information with one another in today's society.
How do you share what you read on-line?

38. Digital Natives Popular Technologies
Mobile Phones: Mobile phones have progressed rapidly from simple calling devices to portable hand-held computers.
Today, it seems that young people are always “texting” instead of talking.
Do You Cha Cha?

40. Digital Natives Popular Technologies
Blogs: Short for web log, a blog is an on-line journal that can be published instantly to an Internet website.
Today, many young people are using blogs to share their views and observations about their world and the world in general.

42. Digital Natives Popular Technologies
Video and Photo Sharing Sites: Video and photo sharing sites are important mediums used by many young people today to share their “realistic” thoughts through images.

43. Digital Natives Popular Technologies
Wiki: Wikis are web sties built though collaboration. They are a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language.

45. Digital Natives Popular Technologies
Podcasting: Podcasting is a mobile technology. It is portable, either through personal computers or mobile devices (MP3 player, handheld, cell phone, or laptop), and provides just-in-time access to information.
Don’t forget Twitter!

46. Do you need a Tweet?

47. Teaching Digital Natives

48. Digital Natives versus Digital Immigrants
Today’s students are Digital Natives - they have grown up with digital technology.
Today’s teachers are Digital Immigrants - they have not grown up with digital technology, but have acquired certain skills and understanding of new technology through necessity.
Digital Immigrants are attempting to teach the Digital Natives with methods that are no longer valid; the only choice may be for educators to change the way they teach.
(Prensky, 2001)

50. Digital Immigrant Teachers
Many “Digital Immigrant” teachers refuse to change their ways of doing things – they want the Digital Natives to come their ways of doing things.
They speak with an accent.
They do things like print out their when the Digital Native doesn’t even use . That’s an accent.
They get their news from the newspaper. Digital Natives likes to get information from a variety of sources. That’s an accent.

51. Teaching Digital Natives Teacher Suggestion
STEM teachers must learn about Digital Natives and embrace them and their technology and try to incorporate what they learn into their classrooms.
Challenge: A new way of thinking for schools!

52. Teaching Digital Natives Teacher Suggestion
Ask the Digital Natives (students)
for help and ideas.

53. Teaching Digital Natives Classroom Suggestions
Use the cell phone as a learning tool.
Surveys
Find Answers & Text
Digital Cameras
Calculators
Offer Class Podcasts
Record “key” discussions, activities, etc.
Challenge: Cell phones not allowed in class!

54. Teaching Digital Natives Classroom Suggestions
Broadcast Videos:
Discussions
Demonstrations
Student Projects
Challenge: YouTube not permitted in schools!

55. Teaching Digital Natives Classroom Suggestions
Set-up a classroom Blog.
Develop a class website.
Set-up a “social network site.

56. Teaching Digital Natives Classroom Suggestions
Set up a photo sharing site.
Develop a class wiki site.
Use on-line assessments.

57. Teaching Digital Natives Teacher Suggestions
Use the Internet as a resource for teaching.
Use Instructional Technology
Consider Gaming
Don’t forget about Google and it’s many classroom applications.

58. Teaching Digital Natives Teacher Suggestions
Learn everything you can about st Century technology skills.
Don’t settle for basic personal proficiency - become an expert.
Use the Internet.

59. Teaching Digital Natives Challenges
Digital Divide – Some do not have the technology.
Technology Not Allowed in the Classroom.
Ethics – Illegal and inappropriate Uses.
Unprepared – Many teachers are still unprepared to use today's’ technology.

60. Teaching Digital Natives Change How We Teach
The manner in which students are taught will not truly change until the manner in which we teach and evaluate students change.
Multiple studies suggest moving students from consumers of information to producers of information. This, above all else is the key to engaging digital learning.
Jackson, S. H. & Crawford, D. (2008)

61. Teaching Digital Natives Change How We Teach
Research shows that kids engage in the curriculum more and participate to a higher and deeper level when given real world challenges that match their abilities and interests to the curriculum.
The data shows that students in even our poorest under achieving schools do well when technology is used to hook into their learning style. It makes school interesting and it connects with their life.

62. Conclusion Today’s students are different - they are Digital Natives.
Many of today’s instructors are from a different generation – they should prepare themselves to teach to today’s Digital Natives.

63. Conclusion
Learning how to use today’s “Digital Native’s” technologies and incorporating them into the classroom may help to improve teaching and student learning.

64. THE END

65. Teaching Digital Natives
Teaching Today’s Digital Natives
Helpful Resources
(Handout)

66. PAY ATTENTION

67. Resources Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants - By Marc Prensky (2001)
Digital Immigrants Teaching the Net Generation - Much Ado About Nothing?
T4 - Jordan School District - Transforming Teaching Through Technology (Pay Attention Video)
Net Generation Nonsense - Mark Bullen Discusses Teaching and Learning
Though Net Generation Concerns Over-hyped, Integrating Technology the Right Step

68. Resources Digital Natives – Counterpoint Discussion
Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First-Century Digital Learner
How tech-obsessed iKids would improve our schools.
Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many
Wii Love Learning: Using Gaming Technology to Engage Students
Measuring DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY for AMERICA’S CHILDREN: Where We Stand and Where We Go From Here, Including the DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY MEASURING STICK 2005

69. Resources
Digital Learners: How Are They Expanding the Horizon of Learning?
STEM Education and Educational Technology Gateways and Resources
Defining ‘Generation Y’: towards a new typology of digital learners
21st Century Teaching and Learning, Part 1
Meeting students where they learn can have a profound effect on education
Clickers, Pedagogy and Edtechtainment

70. Resources Creating the 21st-Century Classroom
Engaging Digital Learners
Generation Washington Middle School
ENGAGED HANDS - digital natives with a difference
Digital Natives and Education

71. Resources Pay Attention http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEFKfXiCbLw
A Vision of K-12 Students Today
Networked Student
Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants: Some Thoughts from the Generation Gap