Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn

Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn

Look around at today's youth and you can see how technology has changed their lives. They lie on their beds and study while listening to mp3 players, texting and chatting online with friends, and reading and posting Facebook messages. How does the new, charged-up, multitasking generation respond to traditional textbooks and lectures? Are we effectively reaching today's technologically advanced youth? Rewired is the first book to help educators and parents teach to this new generation's radically different learning styles and needs. This book will also help parents learn what to expect from their "techie" children concerning school, homework, and even socialization. In short, it is a book that exposes the impact of generational differences on learning while providing strategies for engaging students at school and at home. “This book offers insight and help to motivate and maximize learning for the Internet Generation. Rosen offers invaluable guidance, support, and ideas for parents and teachers.” ― Eric Milou, Professor of Mathematics, Rowan University “Larry Rosen's pioneering work in this field has been well-recognized by his professional colleagues - those of us in the field who are seeking to help educators, policy-makers, and parents understand what is happening as our society and our youth embrace digital media technologies. Larry's research-based, positive, proactive messages are a welcome relief from the unsupported fear-based messages that are unfortunately also present. Rewired should be considered a ‘must-read' by all professionals who work with youth, especially those in leadership positions.” ― Nancy Willard Director of Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use “Great resource for parenting the Net Generation” ― Scholastic Parent & Child Magazine on Me, Myspace, and I “A timely and comprehensive look at the virtual world. Provides concrete answers to parents' pressing questions about social networking and how children live online. Written by one of the top authorities on the impact of technology, Me, MySpace, and I is a must read for all parents.” ― Dr. Kimberly Young, author of Caught in the Net and Tangled in the Web, on Me, Myspace, and I Larry D. Rosen, PhD is past chair and professor of Psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills. He is a research psychologist and computer educator, and is recognized as an international expert in the "Psychology of Technology." He is the author of iDisorder . Dr. Rosen has also been a commentator on Good Morning America , MSNBC, Fox News Channel, CNN, and Lifetime Television, and has been quoted in hundreds of magazines and newspapers, including Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times , and USA Today . Rewired Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn By Larry D. Rosen, L. Mark Carrier, Nancy A. Cheever Palgrave Macmillan Copyright © 2010 Larry D. Rosen All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-230-61478-9 Contents 1. Why Tweens and Teens Hate School, 2. Welcome to the iGeneration, 3. An Explosion of WMDs: Wireless Mobile Devices, 4. Multitasking Madness, 5. Real Life or Screen Life? The Educational Opportunities of Immersive Social Networking and Virtual Worlds, 6. Tapping into a Very Creative Generation of Students, 7. Media Literacy among 21st-Century Kids, 8. Concerns, Worries, and Barriers, 9. Rewiring Education, Acknowledgments, Endnotes, Index, CHAPTER 1 Why Tweens and Teens Hate School Despite the revolutions wrought by technology in medicine, engineering, communication, and many other fields, the classrooms, textbooks, and lectures of today are little different than those of our parents. Yet today's students use computers, mobile telephones, and other portable technical devices regularly for almost every form of communication except learning. —National Science Foundation Task Force on Cyberlearning I absolutely hate school. They make me sit and listen as some old, stuffy teacher drones on and on about stuff from a book written like in the dark ages. We have to read pages of facts and then barf them up on tests that will make or break whether we get into a good college or not. Oh sure, they have pretty pictures on all the pages, but the book is so one-dimensional. Geez, pictures? Don't they know anything about video and what kids like to do? We get to go to the computer lab once a week for like an hour—if that—and even then most of what I want to do is blocked. I can't wait until I am out of this place and I can go to college where they let us bring computers to class and know how to treat wired kids like me. —Vanessa, age twelve, New York City I was visiting my daughter's high school and decided to peek in on her Spanish class. From what was written on the blackboard, the class was working on an assignment translating a passage from English to Spanish—at least that's what they were supposed to be doing. I counted n