The Aerodynamic Failures Of The Humble Bumble Bee. A Metaphor

The Aerodynamic Failures of the Humble Bumble Bee. A metaphor possibly relating to: The exploration of critical thinking and interaction, within our Digital world. Thoughts behind the title: Reflections in research: The increasing use of technology in all aspects of society makes confident, creative and productive use of ICT an essential skill for life. ICT capability encompasses not only the mastery of technical skills and techniques, but also the understanding to apply these skills purposefully, safely and responsibly in learning, everyday life and employment. ICT capability is fundamental to participation and engagement in modern society. ICT can be used to find, develop, analyse and present information, as well as to model situations and solve problems. ICT enables rapid access to ideas and experiences from a wide range of people, communities and cultures, and allows pupils to collaborate and exchange information on a wide scale. ICT acts as a powerful force for change in society, and citizens should have an understanding of the social, ethical, legal and economic implications of its use, including how to use ICT safely and responsibly. Increased capability in the use of ICT supports initiative and independent learning, as pupils are able to make informed judgements about when and where to use ICT to enhance their learning and the quality of their work. National Stratergies Statement.

Digital technology provides us all with opportunities to participate in new kinds of learning…However, only those with critical thinking skills and experience of digital technologies will be able to both harness these opportunities and discriminately use them, rather than avoiding them or accepting them passively. Digital literacy provides an opportunity to link established canons of knowledge with popular cultures. Critical thinking for our digital world. BECTA Research piece in progress. The increasing digitalisation of the world, “Will require digital literacy of all children for their full participation in society.” (Rose. J. 2009.)

“Technology, for me can be related to the humble bumble bee. Aerodynamically it should be impossible for the bee to fly, but it does. Fir me, Technology can offer the potential for our children to fly, when perhaps, in the view of some, they shouldn’t, but again, just don’t tell them, watch and find pleasure.” Me

Focus of our explorations and learning: The learner journey: Moving towards e-maturity. Background thoughts: How do we as adults help the children we teach to actively participate and innovate within our ever increasing digitalised world. How do we ensure our children are not passively being directed through this digital landscape, but our seeing for themselves the possibilities that technology can bring to them as learners. How do we facilitate the child’s learning as move from being a directed, guided and independent learner, e-mature. Would thinking creatively and critically provide us with some possible learner journey pathways towards e-maturity? http://schools.becta.org.uk/index.php? section=tl&catcode=as_cu_pr_sub_14&rid=594&PHPSESSID=46fdfa4cce178c846daf660a269145f 4 What about the digitalised world, Next Generation Learner? Does technology not offer us a way of interconnecting ideas, innovations, thoughts, ethics and responses to the wolrd in which we live instantaneously? This isn’t just important to our children, its import to our next generation, of which we will still be part of, therefore having a stake and responsibility. http://www.ted.com/talks/gordon_brown.html Session focus: A look at possible answers to these questions: How do we discover the full potential that media, technology and digital resources can offer? What can we create? How can we use technology to stay interconnected, responding instantaneously to each others needs or celebrating our successes?