Marc Prensky and the Digital Natives Part II

Part II 'Are They Really Thinking Differently?' (click to view here).

Critical Summary

Prensky explains findings in recent research that the brain is constantly reorganised. It never loses its plasticity, and it changes and reorganises itself differently based upon the input it receives. This has implications for the above theory. Natives and Immigrants not only think about things differently, they actually think differently. Their thinking is determined by what they have experienced, and this will be hugely different for Digital Immigrants and Digital natives. He explains that ‘Children raised with the computer ―think differently from the rest of us’. He suggests then that Immigrants must accept the fact they have entered into an unfamiliar world, and must adapt in order to achieve effective teaching and learning.

Prensky presents extensive evidence in support that games can help develop learning in a way that will help the brain reorganise itself and therefore retain the information put in. For the brain to reorganise itself it needs a consistent flow of information over a sustained period of time, Prensky suggests ‘several hours a day, five days a week, sharply focused attention’, which is reminiscent of the time a child invests in a video game. Prensky is by no means suggesting that children play mindless video games all day to achieve more effective learning, but to use this as a basis for practicing effective learning.

In view of this evidence Prensky proposes that Digital Immigrants must learn to reorganise their own minds. In such a way as people did for reading, for television and now for digital technologies. It seems a fair call that those who are technophobes should not be teaching in a way that seems completely alien to those who are learning. The learners are the future and so should not be dragged back into an old system, just because the teachers are afraid of the new digital technologies. Prensky’s evidence suggests that in fact digital technology enhances learning, and it should therefore be forwarded, not pushed to the back of the line.