Technology Literacy

A statement and its repercussions have attracted my attention from lesson 1.  

Statement  "Students are much more comfortable and familiar with computer technologies than previous generations."

Repercussion  "It is still questionable whether students are "technically literate" and other skills such as problem solving/thinking skills may have been neglected."

I agree with the idea that students are more comfortable and familiar with computer technology now than in previous generations.  That said, the repercussion that accompanies this statement is obvious to me every day.  Many students believe that because they can google something, they know all about it.  I have often encountered a student who has found some great information on a topic and when I ask them to explain it to me, they are completely unable.  Their critical thinking skills are not being drawn upon and they do not seem to understand that it is not just the locating of information that is important but the understanding and applying of this information.  A grade 7 teacher that I work with tells me that no matter how long she takes explaining to her students that copy/pasting from the internet is plagiarism, she always receives a few assignments directly from the internet.  It is important to work with students to stress the importance of really synthesizing the information that they locate and turning it into something that is meaningful to themselves, their peers and teachers!