Balance Between Imagination and Technology

Interestingly and timely, a discussion with a friend of mine ensued over the weekend regarding this issue of technology and children’s imagination. My friend and her boyfriend both have strong and different opinions about this. She works in early childhood education and he is in a technological/entrepreneurial field. While he advocates for technology and the importance of twenty-first century skills, she emphasizes the importance for children to foster their imagination. Furthermore, she is overwhelmed by the technological toys available in toy stores and thinks of technology and young children in terms of sitting in front of a Game Boy or television screen.

Although others’ perspectives vary and all points are certainly valid. After all, we do not want our students and children to rot their minds and bodies away. Yet I find myself somewhere in the middle of this spectrum, learning more toward technological implementation. As an educator I am aware that technology is a tool for learning and not an add-on to the already comprehensive curriculum. Creativity, imagination, and twenty-first century skills are all important. But we must certainly use the right tools to develop students' metacognition and prepare them for life in our modern society. This issue is not so black and white, also, as often times creativity and technology overlap.