There is every chance the toddlers of today will grow up never having pressed a button on a phone.
For them, pressing buttons — a much-loved pursuit of many children — has been replaced with brushing their finger along an iPad or iPhone screen.
They will never know a time when information isn’t instantaneous, and the vast resources of the world’s newspapers, magazines and television networks can’t be called up on a small, portable screen.
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Older people have had to learn this technology — for many of us, emails, mobile phones and the the internet are tools we’ve only known in adulthood, and keeping up with the rapidly-evolving technology can be baffling.
Younger people are known as “technology natives”. They learn how to use iPads, but their hard copy writing skills may suffer as a result.
According to newspaper reports today, educators are harnessing children’s command of technology to help improve their basic literary skills, which are lagging behind.
This makes teachers jobs bigger than ever.
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“When you’re teaching students you’re teaching them more than just grammatical skills,” the principal of Bialik College in Melbourne, Joseph Gerassi, told tonight’s episode of 6.30 with George Negus.
“You’re teaching them how to work in a world they’re going to be functioning in once they leave school.”
Your say: Do you think children should get back to basics? Or are they the lucky ones? Are you amazed at how quickly your children and grandchildren embrace technology?
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