During a recent educator workshop, I challenged the participants
to build a boat out of a single sheet of newspaper. The primary goal was to build
a vessel that would float in a bucket of water, but would also hold the
greatest number of pennies before sinking. I envisioned this as one of those
15-minute warm-up activities designed to start everyone thinking out of the
box.
Imagine my surprise when I noticed several participants
Googling newspaper boat designs. My quickie warm-up activity had
become a time-intensive and highly competitive design challenge. I let the
activity run its course, but when summing up I mentioned that it had been my
intention for people to think on their own (not via Google) about building
something out of a non-traditional material.
Suddenly I was hit with a backlash of comments about not allowing
the participants to use their 21st
century skills. It turned into quite a lively debate between those who
advocated using their brains and those who insisted upon using their phones. And,
yes, I’ll say it – the people with the strongest opinions tended to be the Baby
Boomers versus the Millennials.
I think allowing students to use their cellphones as an
educational tool opens up a world of exciting possibilities; but like most
things in life, there is a proper time and a place. We also need to teach
students how to think for themselves in order to promote inspiration and
creativity. Proactively exercising your brain leads to better mood, faster
thinking, improved memory, quicker reaction time, and increased focus. After
all, no matter how good the design, if you build a boat out of newspaper it
will eventually become water-logged and sink.
