Starting at 6, kids will be designing and carrying out their own technology-rich investigations … This will be followed by the introduction of graphing and graphing analysis, starting when kids are about 10 and using data gathered from real-time probes in microcomputer-based labs. We will also see far earlier introduction of decimals in the context of experimental measurement, at the expense of fractions, which will be treated as an anachronistic novelty during one week in the middle level. Experimental probability and statistics will be introduced with the earliest experiments, then, building on students’ computer-based numerical and graphical skills, treated quantitatively beginning around age 11. The resulting measurement and analytic skills will enable 11- to 13-year-olds to explore a range of scientific areas through observation and measurement.
Predictor: Tinker, Bob
Prediction, in context:In 1995, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology commissioned a series of white papers on various issues related to networking technologies. The department convened the authors for a workshop in November 1995 to discuss the implications. The following statement is taken from one of the white papers, “The Whole World in Their Hands,” by Bob Tinker, the president of Concord Consortium, he has a Ph.D. in physics from MIT and a reputation as a pioneer in constructivist uses of educational technology. Tinker writes:”Information technologies will support a full integration of experimental science with mathematics in beginning student projects and investigations. Starting at 6 years old, kids will be designing and carrying out their own technology-rich investigations, gaining experience with materials, design techniques, measurement, error analysis, and interpretation. This will be followed by the introduction of graphing and graphing analysis, starting when kids are about 10 and using data gathered from real-time probes in microcomputer-based labs. We will also see far earlier introduction of decimals in the context of experimental measurement, at the expense of fractions, which will be treated as an anachronistic novelty during one week in the middle level. Experimental probability and statistics will be introduced with the earliest experiments, then, building on students’ computer-based numerical and graphical skills, treated quantitatively beginning around age 11. The resulting measurement and analytic skills will enable 11- to 13-year-olds to explore a range of scientific areas through observation and measurement. These explorations, some as part of networked groups, some with microcomputer-based labs, will give students a broad exposure to examples of categories, change, regularity, and cause and effect in the natural world. Kids may not realize it, but some of their activities will involve pre-engineering design challenges.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: E-learning
Name of publication: The Future of Networking Technologies for Learning
Title, headline, chapter name: The Whole World in Their Hands
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Futures/
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney