As part of a series of posts, we examine the latest research on how young people and the wider population in the UK use the internet, and what it means for Local Authorities, schools and teachers.
Age-by-age: what do parents feel about their children using the net? Early years’ parents “Viruses and breaking the machine” Concerns of parents of younger children (7 to 8 years) tended to be quite basic, i.e. focusing on breaking the computer or downloading viruses. They did not expect their children to surf much or really experiment although some had begun to try to communicate some of the basic rules around safety and had banned
certain sites.
Later Primary parents “Accidental stumbling” Parents of children in this age group (9-11 years) were beginning to feel more concerned about their
children stumbling across inappropriate material or being exposed to paedophile activity. However, they still felt reasonably confident about being in a position to monitor and control their children’s internet activity.
Parents of secondary “Inappropriate communication” The parents in the sample who expressed the greatest levels of concern were those whose children were in early secondary school. Parents of younger teens were particularly concerned about social networking sites and gaming communities. Their concerns centred around: Inappropriate sharing of personal details; the risks of befriending a paedophile; and the posting of inappropriate images.
They felt that the changing lifestage (and a growing interest in the opposite sex) coupled with their growing knowledge and confidence in using the internet meant a greater potential for inappropriate behaviour on-line. (Parental knowledge decreases here)
Parents of and children in the 10 to 15 year old age group were also particularly concerned about cyberbullying. (Mostly on MSN chat)
Most teenagers were confident that if they did end up somewhere they didn’t want to be they could just click away.
Parents of senior secondary “Let them get on with it” Parents of the oldest children in the sample felt that there was less they could do
to control their children’s safe use of the internet and tended to assume that their
children would be more aware and sensible by this point anyway. They were
more prepared to turn a blind eye and ‘let them get on with it’.
….. and they’re not in receipt of lessons paid for by the public purse! Why? To optimise motor control in the face of ageing and injury, according to an article on Science Daily.
What was interesting from the point of view of music cognition is the idea that the birds, like most of us, require audio confirmation of their output. By modern computer trickery, the birds were led to believe that tiny details of their song had changed and they modulated their output accordingly. Most ensemble players, and especially singers will be aware of this phenomenon – a whole choir is more likely to go flat than only a certain percentage. However, when interference ceased, the birds returned to the original version learned in, and honed since their youth.
Interestingly, removed from the primary purpose of the song (wooing potential mates) the birds were a little more adventurous and experimental in their singing. However, they usually returned to a verbatim reading in the presence of potential mates. I wonder if Jamie Cullum is aware that the spirit of jazz may be losing him dates?
Chatting to a colleague today who works as a Primary Music Specialist, I realised that I was slightly vague about their curriculum and at what age they might introduce any given concept.
Instrumental Instructors tend to view P5 beginners as newcomers to the language of music, when in fact they must already be familiar with many elements of this language.
This contrasts with the situation in secondary schools where, for example, lists of musical concepts for Standard Grade & Higher are published. Thanks to these lists, we know what a pupil of a given age should either know or be in the processing of learning. This means that we can play our part by reinforcing pupils’ grasp of the concepts when they crop up in pieces being studied. In addition to this, we needn’t reinvent the wheel explaining ideas from first principals which have already been covered in class music.
As a result of this chance conversation, my colleague has kindly offered me a copy of concepts and I look forward to increased cooperation. Perhaps some part of an in service day could involve Primary Music Specialists, Secondary Music Teachers and Instrumental Instructors considering the complete musical journey.
Every time I do a talk or seminar it’s different; in the age of podcasts, vodcasts and conference blogging it’s only a fool or a lazy researcher who says the same thing day in, day out. The main lines of this talk have been popular but two points were raised afterwards which are worth tackling. They are both related, one about the substance of what I showed in the talk and the other on the ‘entertainment only’ value of new technologies. I disagree (of course) with both, because I believe they’re just wrong.
In this version of the talk I have unashamedly concentrated on the final products of learning, giving passing mention to the importance of the changes in process that leads to them. I was, if you like, appealing to the professionalism and attitudes of teachers to think about what the processes might have been, rather than just listing what changes took place.
The second relates as much to the way I present stuff as to the depth of change and transformation these new technologies offer. Yes, they are entertaining, and what’s wrong with that? Yes they increase motivation for being rather fun to use. But they also transform the way we do things because they open collaborative and time-shifting opportunities in learning that have never, until now, been on offer.
I hope these points come through for most people, but any other ideas or feedback you have that hasn’t already beenmentioned would be greatly appreciated.
Educators and students from North Ayrshire Council, a Shetland school and Argyll and Bute Council share their knowledge and experiences at the Scottish Learning Festival on a variety of topics, including play and active learning for early years children, animation techniques, secondary citizenship and developing rich tasks for Curriculum for Excellence.
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Early years’ parents
Later Primary parents
Parents of secondary