Try using a phone in the classroom. Or open it. Children can use some help in learning how to use the technology that surrounds them. This is how Michiel van Nieuwstadt introduces his article Technology makes classes exciting, and sometimes more effective. The article that recently appeared in a Dutch Education magazine, different people come to talk about the sense and nonsense of phones, laptops, iPads and other gadgets in the classroom. Our project developer Karien Vermeulen talks about our experience with creating GPS routes and urban mining in the classroom:
"We provide classes in which students tear old mobile phones apart to see what's inside, where the raw materials come from, under what circumstances they were gathered, what they are worth and whether they are reusable." Children who open mobile phones will discover it for themselves while they learn playfully. "Our society and education are focused on cognition," said Vermeulen. "But it can also be different. Learning with our head and hands can come together. If a child opens a cell phone and learns how it works, you sort of take away the magic of technology a little bit. It's a nice way of learning kids to be more understanding of their environment."
