Keep your heart with all vigilance for from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:23
Technology pervades every part of our lives. If you go out to eat, there will inevitably be a TV in the room, the people at the tables around you are on their phones more than often than not, and every child either has a tablet or a cellphone to keep them occupied so they are quiet while they are out ‘eating’. This is a far cry from how many of us were brought up, but we can all fall into the trap of – well, I really just need to answer this email/text/phone call. Or maybe, you are discussing something that raises a question, and someone has to ‘Google’ the answer so that there is no
Obviously, the Bible doesn’t really address technology in that we can’t search the Bible for the words ‘phone’, ‘tablet’, ‘computer’, ‘technology’, etc. However, there is Scripture that we can apply to the way we use technology.
More specifically, how does this apply in the classroom? Our students need to learn how to use technology to function in the world when they are out of school. Then we face issues of AI, using Grammarly, ending up on inappropriate sites, wasting time on their computers when they should be working, and the list goes on an on. As fast as we can come up with filtering systems and other protective technologies, the students can get around it. There are schools that have no technology in the classroom, this avoids all those issues. I asked one principal why they didn’t use technology. Her response was, “why would I do that to myself?’
However, teaching is not just math, grammar, science, and the other classes we think of when we think of education. We should teach our students how to wisely manage technology. They should learn to follow the teachings in the Bible about obeying those in authority, which includes where you go and what you do on the computer. They should learn how to follow the principles of Philippians 4:8 and keep their minds on those things that are pleasing to God. This is our job, to teach them how to wisely and obediently use technology.
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I agree. Wise use of technology is something students need to learn.
The struggle is not just for students. I can "jump on the internet" to read an email, and then I look something up, and usually find some excuse to go to Amazon. I am a work in progress.
However, I like the use of technology in the classroom. Generation Genius was highly beneficial as a science resource, as well as videos about energy sources. We viewed these after we read about them and discussed what we read.