The online education magazine eSchool News recently asked its readers what were the most important technology skills for students to know in the modern era (Stansbury, 2012). The readers identified "online literacy," "critical thinking," "the science behind the technology," "adaptability," and "courage" as the most important skills for the modern era. So, how do these ideas fit into the K-12 curriculum?

The bulging K-12 curriculum that once included only reading, writing, and arithmetic now includes such things as psychology, sociology, physical education, music, art, computer science and applications, and driver education. To add to the burden, the body of knowledge is increasing. History, for example, grows in scope daily simply because of its nature as a chronicle of events. Mathematics and the other hard sciences are also growing rapidly as new knowledge is created and new facts discovered. With a fixed number of days and hours available in a school year - even in schools using year 'round calendars - there is a limited amount of time to disseminate information.

So, how do K-12 schools integrate the technology skills required for students to be successful in the modern era? The Stansbury (2012) study identifies ideas such as "online literacy" and "critical thinking" that are somewhat addressed already in a host of classrooms. They appear to students as expectations or challenges in their research papers, history projects, and mathematics assignments. For example, teachers expect students to know how to use the Internet to find information. The challenge that students must learn is to critically appraise the resources they locate. Other items on the Stansbury (2012) list such as "adaptability" and "courage" are more attitudes or traits than skills. For example, being willing to take risks is an attitude more than a skill. The willingness to use a software tool whether or not it is for the intended purpose is also an attitude. These attitudes can be developed in the existing framework of the K-12 classroom without adding additional bulk to the curriculum.

However, when it comes to following Stansbury's (2012) notion of "the science behind the technology," this seems to be its own field of study and a new addition to the overloaded curriculum of K-12 schools. It naturally fits in a computer science class, but in what proportion to the other topics that already vie for the limited resource of time? This is a concept with which educators must grapple. How important is this really to the vast majority of students? What percentage will actually become computer programmers or software engineers over the next 10 or 20 years? Is that number significant enough to re-structure the curriculum? What about the "common" student who simply needs to be able to use the products created? The answers to these questions lie with the stakeholders of the local school or district. Each must find the unique balance of curricular inputs that best suits the needs of their existing students and the perceived needs of the students who will be served in the future. Nonetheless, it is a dialogue worth having.                                                                           

Reference

Stansbury, M. (2012). Five technology skills every student should learn. eSchool News. Retrieved from http://www.eschoolnews.com/2012/09/04/five-technology-skills-every-student-should-learn/.