Wednesday morning I had a rare opportunity. I was invited to work with a high school government and economics class, introducing them to Google Earth. There was a class of about 30 students in the media center’s computer lab, and I showed them basic navigation, how to create placemarks, and some general features of the program.
It was a lively class, and several were exploring on their own instead of following along with me. The regular teacher seemed more concerned with this than I was. I figured that if they were already familiar with the program, they should be given the freedom to explore further, and not be held back by my plans. Occasionally I would pull them all back together when I wanted to make a particular point, but more often it was when one of the students discovered something to share with the class that contributed to the discussion. All-in-all, they were a great group of kids, and a delight to work with.
As I finished up with the students, I thought back to an article I’d read in the morning’s Greenville News. This article expressed concerns that the students who were truly being left behind by “No Child Left Behind” are the brighter students. As educators focus on bringing up test scores of the lowest achievers, those on the upper end are often left to fend for themselves. Innovative programs and classroom techniques are discarded for sameness that addresses the lowest common denominator. Teach to the test.
I say that the morning’s experience was a rare opportunity, and it’s getting rarer. Now our computer labs are used constantly for drill-n-kill programs which both our teachers and our students dread whenever lab time rolls around. There’s not much room for Google Earth, or anything else innovative or interesting. I have to wonder how effective these programs can be in the long run, if they do nothing but turn students off to computers.