Wired for change : mandated technology as an opportunity for change through constructionism.

Abstract

Various states, supported by the Congress and the President, are mandating the use of computer related technologies, with special emphasis on the Internet. The teachers who are expected to implement this use are not just unprepared in the sense of technical training, they are unprepared in the sense of a fundamental perception. Central to the current vision of curriculum and instruction is the cognitive illusion that all things are measurable. Rising from this illusion, a secondary almost mystical, belief holds that the school can be viewed in the same way that businesses view themselves and can be held to the same standard of efficiency. The combined view holds that knowledge is made from an inventory of discrete bits that can be poured into identical assembly line students. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the process reconciling the consequence of the mandate (forced school reform without a clear understanding of its nature) and the conflict within the school culture rising from the lack of a shared vision that can give meaning to the technology. To do this, I explore an understanding of curriculum and instruction built on the cognitive science philosophy called constructionism. The backbone of this understanding is based on concepts of how humans learn that are culled, not just from the body of education related literature, but from a variety of disciplines: linguistics, philosophy, history, neurobiology, psychology, sociology, and mathematics. Those ideas that are more recent are mixed with concepts from the past that are nearly forgotten (Froebel), are under-appreciated (Piaget), or have been rediscovered (Vygotsky). It is the thesis of this paper that school culture will change through mandated technology. This change opens an opportunity for a response that alters the vision of learning without destroying the institution.