When we learn a new task we change both the structure and function of the neurons in our brains. Faced with a new challenge, neurons increase production of the chemical transmitters that convey signals from one neuron to another.
Repetitive activity stimulates the development of numerous new connections among the billions of neurons in our brains. Repetitive use of the new skill strengthens the new network. Less used mental pathways fade away. This process of gain and loss continues throughout our lives so long as we choose physically and mentally active lifestyles.
Memory is a two-step process in which fresh information is first assembled at a relay station in the brain before being transmitted to a more permanent repository. This process is impaired if the brain is bombarded with fleeting input.
In my school days we wrote, read, solved problems at blackboards and in labs, and memorized spelling as well as poetry and dramatic speeches. Even today I can recite various passages from literary masters such as Edgar Allan Poe and William Shakespeare. While more intense, college maintained the same pattern for increasing our stores of information. We took more extensive notes. We spent hours in libraries, retrieving journals and books for research papers.
The Internet has dramatically changed this pattern of learning.
Studies document the increasing hours outside classrooms that students of all ages spend cruising the Internet. High school students in one report spent three to five hours daily texting their friends. Typical teenagers send 100 or more text messages daily. For some students, electronic gaming can consume similar amounts of time. This is time stolen from academic work and physical activity. Time devoted to television has increased alongside Internet time.
In a learning environment, the Internet offers students of every age immediate access to astounding resources. Schools consider connection to the Internet a vital component of teaching.
Classrooms and libraries are considered backward without personal computers. With Internet access a student has the equivalent of a personal Library of Congress at his or her fingertips. A research paper on any topic can be researched electronically from any location.
But does instant access to such riches assure an improved educational experience?
Distractions on the Internet are numerous. Ads, links to other material, and even illustrations can interfere with the continuity of a text. Meanwhile, text messaging creates persistent interruptions.
"The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains" by Nicholas Carr is an engaging and accessible analysis of these complex issues. Surfing the Internet or sending repeated text messages does not imprint useful new circuits in our brains. That requires what the author terms "deep reading." The crucial element in deep reading -- or deep learning -- is attentiveness to the text or task at hand. We must concentrate and contemplate if we are to integrate and to make meaningful use of new ideas. Only then can new material become uniquely ours.
Sophisticated measurements of brain activity are underway that will clarify how we process information from the Internet. Entirely new concepts of teaching may evolve so that the Internet can not only deliver data but also facilitate its incorporation in that bedrock that we call our education. If trivial use of the Internet, however, continues its rapid growth, time for Internet-facilitated learning will simply not be available.
Was memorization of poetry and dramatic passages a waste of time? The exercise made my generation aware of both the sense and beauty that careful arrangement of words and thoughts can produce.
The Internet offers a valuable complement to the process of learning. The leading role in that process must still reside with gifted and committed teachers to stimulate the gaining of wisdom.
Contact Clif Cleaveland at cleaveland1000@comcast.net