User:NatureHike02/Digital native

Teaching Digital Natives
Prensky states, digital natives grew up in the age of technology, they embrace new ways to gather information and communicate. This can be through social media, or through different computer programs. Digital natives have become comfortable with the use of technology, often possessing different levels of digital literacy. This does not mean all digital natives posses the same skill level or know how to use proper digital literacy. Digital natives developed these skills through the use of computers, phones, social media, research, etc. outside of formal education.

Technology being apart of and introduced to classrooms meets the needs of digital natives. Educational technology in schools does not mean removing human relationships as teacher-student relationships are essential to learning. Digital natives tend to be "masters" of multitasking, taking large amounts of information at a time allows digital natives to jump from one task to another or in parallel. There is a preference for visual and graphic learning rather than plain text. Concentration and attentiveness is different for digital natives compared to their predecessors, use of technology in the classroom increases student interactivity, through visuals such as PowerPoints allows for educators to share information but also increase student cooperation. Digital natives must be interested in what they are learning, interactivity is important to aid in engagement, a way to apply what they are learning and being able to connect various pieces of knowledge to each other. Applying skills whether it be in a game, program, creating a blog, etc. provides digital natives with first-hand experiences of events, observations, and manipulation of natural processes. Digital natives like to be challenged in what they are learning, an opportunity to discover new information. Further learning is stimulated by the need of wanting to know more and exploration of new information. This type of engagement gives natives a chance to be creative, to explore, research, and being able to explain, elaborate, and evaluate what they have done in a meaningful way.