As Sean clicked away on his Nintendo this morning I realized that "the box," as in "thinking outside the box" isn't just a metaphor, it's a literal image of a game machine, computer or TV. Thinking outside the box means knowing how to think in non-video terms.
Video games teach you certain things—
• Goals don't change
• Goals are hierarchical
• All of the answers can be found within the game itself
This structures thinking in a certain way that is good for procedural tasks but leads to poor problem-solving abilities. The ability to problem solve means knowing how to function in an environment in which goals are constantly changing and being redefined. It means looking for answers "outside the box"—outside the given parameters. Add to this the nature of cinema as an emotional medium. Film works not by logic but by following the emotional arcs of characters. We reason not by critique, but through emotional identification.
Most students are about the same age as the Game Boy (or younger). All of their lives they have been carrying boxes. The digital generation's desire to think outside the box stems from an apparent desire to transcend their own upbringing.
2 comments:
What a classic phrase, it's "one for the ages"! Ithink it's important to distinguish between younger age and younger generation - young people have always been relatively bad at problem solving regardless of generation. I think a lot if it is brain physiology. When we are young our brains are faster and better at some things like memory, but analytical abilities improve later in life. I think with college students you see them start to get bored with having just a fast brain, and they start realizing it only gets you so far. Video games just wear the same grooves in your brain and when you get older you start to hate having grooves...they seem more like ruts! - dc
I'm going to tell your students it's OK to turn in late work because everyone knows that in terms of physiology, students need more sleep!
Actually, I think the students are good at solving problems. The main problem is when they assume that school should be treated like a game rather than a place to solve problems. -R
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