Did You Know? Global Implications?

Two things always stick out in my mind when I watch the Shift Happens/Did You Know video series.

First, for the US to remain on top we must remain creative and innovative.

We are currently preparing students for jobs that don't yet exist...
Using technologies that haven't been invented yet...
in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet.

When our students today leave school they are going to be expect to face and solve problems that
they have never heard of nor studied. I would predict that these problems will be solved by creative and innovative students. As teachers, we must foster this creativity in our students.

Second, memorization of facts and figures becomes less important each day. Finding and analyzing the correct information becomes more important each day.

It is estimated that a weeks worth of New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th Century.

It is estimated that 4 exabytes of unique information will be generated this year.

When I was in school, the teacher presented facts to us and we wrote them down. When we had a question we asked the teachers or found it in an encyclopedia. Some families had an encyclopedia. We didn't, so it involved driving to a library. When my daughter has a questions, she just puts it in Google. Today's students have all the worlds information at their finger tips. The problem is some of that information is crap. As teachers, we must teach students how to find the correct and accurate information.