ENC 1101-B3 & B4: Writing for Discovery
Thoughts on Brown
Written by kappa_06 on November 5, 2003 - 19:20
Brown has a point that this generation does learn differently and I don't blame us for the transition. Though previous methods were effective in getting most points across they were incredibly boring, and boring equals a lack of attention, which later leads to a lack in understanding. Thats is why today's youth tend to be more hands on. Brown mentions this in regard to a fifteen year old and the reading an instruction manual. One reason they may be so reluctant is because they're young and mostly people around this age learn by trial and error. It is also a fact that when a person is engaged in a learning activity and making logical connection on their own they tend to remember and store more than when being dictated to.


He also hit the nail on the head when he discussed the evolution of how information is transmitted. For those who are not a complete advocates of reading, the previous concept of information only being embodied in text would be a complete nightmare. Thank god that this era has variety of ready available alternatives.

Another astute observation that he made was noticing our very short attention span, and I'm the first to admit to having one. That may be one of the reasons why we "multiprocess". Though our attention is divided, we tend to get a proportionate mixture of entertaining and fatigued work activities into one sitting, allowing us to work longer and harder since we've created this sense of balance. Which also allows us more time to complete other task in a similar fashion. The ironic part of this section is that though Brown knows that most attenion spans are short, he seems to have inflated some of the ideas, making his article rather lenghty.

This article also relates to our some of our previous reading on how 99.9% of Proper Grammar Is Obsolete. If we look close we may be able to see some parallels between Wertheimer and Brown in their ideas that today's youth seem to revolutionizing the pace and the terms in which most information is traveling. Both have recognized the influential promise of what was once looked upon as irrational youthful ways, but as time continues to march on we more and more adults adopt these characteristics as they realize that they our the same attributes on which adult life is made of.
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Generation X
Posted by Jason on November 6, 2003 - 17:14.
“Trial and Error” is defiantly the best way to sum up how our generation and the new generation to come will learn. That is how I learned how to build my computer, ride a bike, and play the guitar. No one taught me these things, I just simply set out to do it and over time I learned. The concept of multitasking is also of major concern, because no one just talks on the phone these days without doing something else like driving, watching tv, playing a video game, or cooking.
I agree
Posted by Alexandra30001 on November 6, 2003 - 17:09.
Like you mentioned in your response, Brown made a point that this gneration learns differently. And like you, I feel that its not us to blame. I bet you have seen quite a few commercials in television about highly advanced books that talk to young children and help them to read and speak different languages. Back in earlier times, children didnt have this opportunity. Computers werent a big thing either and they didnt have the Internet to access information.
Attention Span
Posted by jnm1485 on November 6, 2003 - 16:35.
I totally agreed with that too. Since we have grown up in such a more hussle and bussle world, we are to easy to get bored. Although, I do see that our parents have become the same way a little at a time and I also see myself getting let anxious as I get older. We have grown up with it so it is no big deal to us, but for our parents it is a revolution.
We Are Exposed To More Trial and Error
Posted by p4b10 on November 6, 2003 - 12:30.
When you write about people learning through trial and error I think that it applies more to our generation. We have had so many things that can be used to obtain information that we could play around with. Or just in general we have had a lot more inventions and machines to create trial and error on. I think that our generation learns a lot better through this process than any other generation because it is the one of the Digital Age.
 
Trial and error
Posted by cel4145 on November 6, 2003 - 15:28.
"When you write about people learning through trial and error I think that it applies more to our generation."

Good points. And one's that Brown's article should lead everyone to understand. Early use of computers invited you to explore and learn from trial and error. And because you grew up that way, that's one way that you learn effectively.