Earlier this month, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg testified before the U.S. Senate. And while the hearing encouraged a necessary national conversation about data privacy, I can’t help wondering if many of the questions he received from Senate committee members reflected a poor understanding of how the technologies that we use everyday, like the Internet and social apps, actually work.
Everyone from our 3rd grade students to my 83-year old grandmother is dependent on computers. Yet most people fail to understand what goes on inside that computer. If you have no clue how the most important things you interact with everyday work, you can start to tune out of the world. These technologies might appear too complex to comprehend - like magic. (It’s not). It also kills curiosity.
We learn how electricity works, why the sky is blue and how airplanes fly. It is critical that we also demystify computer technologies for our students, regardless if they grow up to become computer programmers. Every student deserves the opportunity to learn about algorithms, how to create an app and how the Internet works.