In an earlier post, I referred to this day in age as the Technological Revolution. What exactly makes for a revolution?
Well, I am currently learning about the Scientific Revolution in 9th grade World Studies. Centuries ago, the development of new sciences changed the faces of education, trade, communication, and understanding of the world around us. The studies of nature, astronomy, physics, and anatomy helped mankind to comprehend how the world worked. New technological advancements helped people to travel, to trade, and to communicate. Since then, communication has become so much easier.
In 1991, nearly 500 years from the beginning of the scientific revolution, email was made available to the public.
In 2005, the social media site “Facebook” was developed.
In 2006, twitter was developed.
The first generation of iPhones was released in 2007.
Since then, ways to communicate have only grown bigger and better.
The 21st century has been a time of great technological advancement, and it is on track to grow significantly as we move forward in this technological timeline.
But how, exactly, has this technology brought about an educational revolution? Well, first of all, information has become much easier to find. Do any of you remember actually going to the library, picking out a reference book, and turning pages to find the answers to your homework’s questions? Luckily, I don’t. It sounds tedious.
Secondly, the information I can find about the world on the internet is so much newer, so much more relevant. My American History textbook told me that there has never been an African American president of the United States of America. A quick “Google” search for “who is the president of the US?” could easily tell me otherwise.
A textbook is a documentation of one point of view. Pages upon pages of things that one specific group of people found to be most important. The computer I’m typing on can give me millions upon billions of perspectives. And, as I’ve asked you before, what is life without perspective?
The above diagram compares and contrasts this Technological Revolution to the Scientific Revolution referenced before. These revolutions have brought about new technology, they’ve enhanced our ability to understand, they’ve encouraged new ways of thinking, they’ve further developed global communication, they’ve provided new perspective, and they’ve reinvented the concept of education. That sounds pretty revolutionary to me.