Reading+&+Reflection+1

Article Review  Tina Thomas  September 8, 2010  EDUC 699

BIBLIOGRAPY

"Education World ® Technology Center: Doug Johnson: Are 21st Century Skills Right Brain Skills?" Education World® The Educator's Best Friend. Web. 29 Sept. 2006. .

SUMMARY

Doug Johnson wrote this article after reading The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman and A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to te Conceptual Age by Daniel Pink. He discusses how future careers will be taken over by people overseas or by computers. As a result of those trends, we are in a shift from left brain learning to right brain learning. Teachers usually gear all efforts to mastery of left brain skills but 21st century skills are helping teachers focus their efforts to develop right brain skills...and technology can help us get there. He lists six right brain “senses,” including design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning. The only problem is that our society and educational system looks at these “conceptual-age skills as extras-- frills that often are the first to be cut in times of tight budgets...”

REFLECTION

Being a right brained person, I completely love the idea of the educational system moving from left brained skills to right brain skills. I enjoy doing, seeing, drawing, creating, and designing about what I learned! We can’t keep thinking with only one side of our brains...we actually need both sides, and that means developing the whole brain--left and right! Our world is constantly changing and developing new ideas and innovations. Humans also need to be constantly changing along with that in order to progress as a society! I do not agree with cutting out extras when there is no money. We can use our right side of the brain without needing a lot of money. Of course, money always helps especially when dealing with technology. I think some money is available for most schools, it is just how we use it that matters!