Urban Myths about Learning and Education

Jan Nedermeijer

Pedro De Bruyckere, Paul A. Kirschner, Casper D. Hulshof give in their book Technology in Education. What teacher should know an overview of all kind of myth which are used by many people, including experts. Some myth are quoted below:

“Myth 1: New technology is causing a revolution in education
One of the most frequently cited reasons for justifying the need for change in education, or at least for labelling education as old-fashioned, is the enormous technological (r)evolution our world has undergone in recent years. Nowadays, we have the Internet in our pocket, in the form of a smartphone, which has exponentially more computing power than the Apollo Guidance Computer that put the first men on the moon! A school with desks, blackboards or whiteboards, and—perish the thought—books seems like some kind of archaic institution, one that, even if it does use a smartboard or a learning platform, operates in a manner that bears a suspiciously strong resemblance to the way things were done in the past.

In education, we often have the feeling that we are finding it harder and harder to reach our students. That is why we are so feverishly interested in smartboards or learning platforms or anything new on the market that might help. Every new tool seems like a possible solution, although sometimes we really don’t know what the problem is or even if there is one.

Regrettably, we have become saddled with a multiplicity of tools, methods, approaches, theories, and pseudo theories, many of which have been shown by science to be wrong or, at best, only partially effective. In this article, which is drawn from our book Urban Myths about Learning and Education, we discuss these miracle tools and the idea that young people today are somehow “digital natives,” and we examine the fear that technology is making our society and our students less intelligent. To illustrate that many claims about technology in education are in fact spurious, we will focus in this article on five specific myths and present the research findings that dispel them.”

“Myth 2: The Internet belongs in the classroom because it is part of the personal world  experienced by children.

Myth 3: Today’s “digital natives” are a  new generation who want a new style  of education.

Myth 4: The Internet makes us dumber.

Myth 5: Young people don’t read anymore."

(the explanation can be found here.)

And…….

“Finally, teachers, administrators, and politicians must learn to become knowledgeable and aware consumers. To that end, we suggest keeping in mind the following: if something sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.”