In fact, what little sociological research HAS been done on digital natives suggest that, while there may be a small (SMALL) subset of the current generation that fits Prensky’s description, it’s nowhere near a majority of that generation. But data doesn’t seem to move a lot of these folks, only the coolness of the technology. It’s wishful thinking at its pernicious worst because it causes educators to make assumptions about things that simply aren’t true, and we end up not teaching kids what they need because we assume they already have it.

Their point was definitely “our kids need to learn technology because the global workforce is changing as is the nature of knowledge” — but they way they presented that point was by mocking old time teachers.

What was so surprising was that I thought we were having a discussion on technology, so I raised my hand and said to the “old” teachers that I agreed with them, and I made my case for why they shouldn’t adopt technology if their students were learning well. And one of the teachers broke character and said “you’re supposed to be on the other side.”

I admit a bit of a chuckle from that. The kid in the class who says something that doesn’t follow the lesson plan, I guess.