Discuss the various roles that Education serves in the preservation of Culture. I believe that education plays a big role in the preservation of culture. History classes teach our students where they came from and what events have shaped how society functions today. By being in school, students are part of a society, thereby participating in culture. The adults in our society pass on their belief systems to their children.  School provides the setting where we can enrich students lives by reminding them of the past and showing them the road to the future.  English classes accomplish this task by reading and discussing literature and having students compose pieces of writings that reflect today’s views.  Math classes teach concepts, then supplement with activities that tie in with the real world and future careers, like engineering, construction, graphic design, consumer sciences, health sciences, and so on.  Classes like Global Issues give students the opportunity to discuss what is shaping their world today.  So with good teacher planning, supportive administration, technology, schools help preserve and shape the future culture of our children.

Technology and Learning: I found an interesting article while browsing the web that talks about how adults are the driving force behind the technology that children use today. The link is Technology and Youth Education. It points out that the availability of technology does not always have a positive effect. For example, the article states that there is a lack of supervision in our society with technology use. Without supervision, how are students supposed to learn responsible use of technology? If we want our students to use technology for learning, then we as teachers need to model the best and appropriate ways of using that technology. We need to educate our students about harmful uses of technology and how they can avoid those pitfalls. When technology is used responsibly, both teachers and students benefit. For example, having students create PowerPoint presentations teaches them good organizational skills and good communication skills, provided the teacher gives the students guidelines to follow (modeling) what an effective presentation looks like. Students can create podcasts to educate other students about current issues, such as the environment, how to solve a particular type of math problem, or the best way to approach a scientific experiment. With the new technologies available, it is now possible to have students communicate with other students at different locations, just like Clarence Fisher is doing.