The “informal learning environments” of television, video games, and the Internet are producing learners with a new profile of cognitive skills, says UCLA psychology professor Patricia Greenfield. Our visual skills are improving, while our critical thinking abilities are in decline, according to a review of 50 studies on learning and technology conducted by Greenfield and published in the journal Science.
Formal education must adapt to these changes, taking advantage of new strengths in visual-spatial intelligence and compensating for new weaknesses in higher-order cognitive processes: abstract vocabulary, mindfulness, reflection, inductive problem solving, critical thinking, and imagination. These develop through the use of an older technology, reading, which, along with audio media such as radio, also stimulates imagination. Informal education therefore requires a balanced media diet using each technology’s specific strengths in order to develop a complete profile of cognitive skills.
What’s the upshot for educators? At ARS Technica, John Trimmer notes because she recognizes that both forms of skills have their place, “Greenfield advocates a balanced approach to the rising tide of visual content obtained through informal education. First, she argues that schools should emphasize textual materials during the learning process in order to provide a counterbalance to the informal learning environment. But, for testing purposes, we could do a better job of providing a more balanced approach than the typical all-text method of evaluating skills and recall. “
No comments on this yet? Actually the silence probably speaks well of the readers of this blog.
How could any of us make a snap judgement regarding this challenging post? I can’t say I’m surprised, or not.
We’re all heading into a great, but dangerous adventure as we deal with 21st century media.
One of the great contributions to this discussion is the novel “The Name of the Rose.” We’re undergoing an even more exciting transition in our “curse” of living in interesting times. But like that great work of fiction, this discussion is another reminder of the need for cultural literacy.
Comment by john thompson — February 9, 2009 @ 5:11 pm
It would help if we could read Greenfield’s full article online, but Science doesn’t make the full text available. When your post hit the blog — interrupting my train of thought and taking my immediate attention, in true 21st century, multi-tasking style — I was reading another article with educators and scholars praising comic books, er sorry, “graphica” as worthy of serious research and study. Somehow the idea of new media changing our “profile of cognitive skills” bothers me less than debasing existing media, but that’s just a snap judgment
Comment by Robert Pondiscio — February 9, 2009 @ 6:21 pm
There’s also an interesting article in the British paper “The Daily Mail” about new research by IQ expert Dr. James Flynn (namesake of the “Flynn effect”, the observation that average IQ scores have increased over time). Dr. Flynn has found that the average IQ score for 14-year-olds in Britain has dropped by nearly 2 points between 1980 and 2008. Even more disturbing is his finding that scores in the upper half of the distribution have dropped on average 6 points over the same time frame.
Dr. Flynn blames the shift in teens’ leisure time from reading & engaging in conversations to TV watching and playing videogames.
Comment by Crimson Wife — February 9, 2009 @ 6:51 pm
This discussion remeinds me of a conversation with a deputy principal about 25 years ago. I remarked to him that TV had affected concentration and reading capacity of our students unfavourably ( in a secondary school ). His response: well we had to deal with radio ( in his youth ). Well der !
Comment by John W. Addie — February 13, 2009 @ 11:08 pm
This is (very) old news to me.
I was a professor for almost 20 years, and over that time
I noticed a progressive decline in student cognitive function
due to a severe over-emphasis on visual media.
Neil Postman expressed concerns about this many years ago
(e.g., Technopoly, The End of Education, etc.)
Now I work for
a small defense contractor and notice the over-emphasis in the
work place on visual media. This definitely interferes with
‘getting the job done.’ Indeed, the problem is so severe
that even older workers (in their fifties) seem adversely
affected.
I think this says something about just how bad things have gotten
in the last 30 years or so.
As a professor I deliberately starved students of visual
imagery to force them to think in a different way. This was not popular either with students, or the university administration.
Comment by ZJC — February 15, 2009 @ 5:49 pm