The Case For Students Who Can Problem Solve

As I am typing this, I am watching my laptop computer compile bits and pieces of a movie I have made that I have really struggled with. I am pretty tech-savvy, and I had/am having a very hard time with this MM program.

However, as I keep troubleshooting and trying different approaches to see what exactly was wrong, I started to think that maybe we should really, really start immersing our students with technology and have them work through all of the struggles and problems that arise for no apparent reason. Have them reverse engineer the situation and see what might have led to each problem. Have them assist teachers with the tech support on a building level. Have them research blogs, msg boards, archived newsgroups, and the general Web to see if other users have encountered this problem and, if so, what solutions they have come up with.

All of these tools will be INVALUABLE to each student as they grow up in this century. I teach 4th grade and I really think we need to start looking nationally at how much time we spend on the 3 R's compared to tech. Are the 3 R's still valid... still viable? Yes! However, in some schools 1/2 of the day is devoted to reading. I'm all for having good, strong readers, but there is more in life and I know quite a few adults who aren't the best readers, but they make a lot of money as higher end tech support for Fortune 500 companies.

Just Thinking Out Loud......