How many of you can still read a road map? Or do you rely on your GPS to ensure your timely arrival at an appointment? What do we do on those "searching for satellite" days? Even my five year old niece inquisitively asked,  "what is that folded piece of paper (map) on the table and what does it do?"

What about phone numbers? As a kid I recall committing to memory all important phone numbers. Today it seems the only numbers I have committed to memory is 911 and 411. And now, sadly, I must use my mobile phone's address book to recite my own home phone number to store cashiers.

I even vaguely remember grade school providing me with countless spelling lessons and tests. Unfortunately I would not have made it through this blog post without the handy use of spell check! What did we do before the time of Word aiding us in our grammar?

So, I ask you all - Has technology changed the way we think? Recalling basic information is no  longer the first step in my process of thought. (Explore Bloom's Digital Taxonomy by Andrew Churches).

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

I recently read a wonderful article titled: Is Google Making us Stupid? by Nicholas Carr and can't help but ponder these thoughts on a different level. Nicholas makes wonderful points about the use of the internet and how it is changing the way we read and ultimately think.

Google and other search engines have given us a new perspective on skimming text. We have honed our skimming skills as we scan results looking for keywords and phrases that might lead us to that perfect website. Newspapers have quickly caught onto this phenomenon as you can often locate short summaries of events within the first few pages of a paper in lieu of lengthy detailed articles that we are less inclined to read.

Yes, some of you are saying that this is just a sign of the changing times. However, perhaps the most eye-opening point that Nicholas makes is the link between reading and thinking: "its a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking." Reading and how we read shapes thinking and how we think.

Connecting Lessons to Teaching

So as I ponder this thought and try to connect its lessons to teaching and learning, I can't help but wonder where this leads us in the 21st Century classroom. Sure we've made physical changes from chalkboards to interactive white boards, but where do we notice the shift in learning and knowledge? I recall often telling my chemistry and physical science students not to memorize the elements on the periodic table, but rather learn how to use the table.

This is quite a shift from when I was in school and had to memorize the elements. Cursive penmanship taught in the 3rd grade here in Pennsylvania is often not reinforced beyond that year. Over the years I have had quite a few 8th grade students who could not read the cursive instructions I had written on the board.

Will the day come that spelling lessons and penmanship are gone with the chalkboards? I don't think the question is one of will but when. Perhaps more importantly - how will these changes reprogram the way we think?