Those Computer Kids

I was scanning the Slashdot Web site for my daily shot of tech news, and came upon an article concerning children's Internet search skills as reported in a press release of a British study. Many adults will concede that even very young children are highly tech savvy when compared to many adults. There is a difference between the two groups, however, in using the Internet to search for information. Even though many kids are proficient in using the Internet for searches, they don't seem to use analytical skills to determine the quality of information they find and aren't patience enough to take time to cross check information.

Years ago in each education course I took I head the mantra that educators need to teach students critical thinking skills. Even television news reports and magazine articles touted this need. These days I don't hear much talk about teaching students critical thinking skills--Florida State standards does include this requirement though. I think about our failure as a society each time I see a news report about students being caught in scams on Facebook or Myspace. Yes, our children are handy with computers, but to what end? Moreover, schools are challenged to teach these skills to students within the time students are in their care, but what about the responsibility of parents under with whom kids have the greater amount of time?
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