The Pen is mightier than the... Pencil? (with apologies to Edward Bulwer-Lytton)

There is a great story that I like to tell when I give presentations on the effective use of technology in a classroom.  You may have heard it!  It goes like this...

For the early American space program, there was a problem about how to use a pen in space!  With no gravity, it wouldn't write!!  Luckily, a private company had spent millions to create a pen that could be used to write in space. Millions!! 

How did the Soviets solve the problem of writing in space?  They just used a 50 cent pencil!!

I use this story to drive home the point (pun intended) that one should not necessarily look to the fanciest, most technically advanced way of achieving educational goals, but rather something as simple as a pencil can do the trick! Education should not be about the "tech toys."  It should be about the goals of the lesson!

Ah.. but, there is more to the story of the space pen that must be told...

It appears, that when the tip of the pencil would flake off, or when the pencil would be sharpened, the small bits of wood and graphite would float around the space capsule causing a huge fire hazard. To solve this problem, ultimately, the Soviets ended up purchasing "space pens" for their space program from the US! 

Not only did the space pen address the safety issues, but the innovation of the redesigned ink and pressurized ball-point cartridge became a mainstay of the pen industry today!! As a matter of fact, even I have one of these fancy pens - the Pilot Down Force - which can be purchased for $10 on Amazon! So you see, sometimes practical innovation has a price tag!

So what's my takeaway on this?

Well, I would suggest that we can sometimes trap ourselves in thinking that "better is the enemy of good enough." (Admiral Sergey Gorshkov, Soviet Navy from 1956 to 1985)  We become complacent with something that works "just fine" when there is a possibility that there is something "better" out there.

For example:  Why use an iPad to draw when a piece of paper is good enough? 

A piece of paper may be fine IF my only goal is to use the iPad as a substitute for the paper.  But, if my goal is to show my students how to take their drawing, share it with a collaborator in Israel who will add to the drawing, which will, in turn, be used to create a new product for the exploration of space, well then, that's a bit different.  My goal was not to substitute paper with the iPad but rather give a complete lesson on 21st-century skills that my students will need in order to survive in the world that they find themselves. (They don't necessarily have to use an iPad - it could be another tech tool... see my blog post on Rocket Man)

Speaking of the 21st-century skills, the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is going on in Los Vegas this week and I always love to look at all of the new tech that comes out of it.  It is a great indicator of where we may be heading - technology wise - in our society.  This, in turn, helps me divine the trends that could affect our kids in the future and how I will have to support these innovations.

I am very cautious with this new tech though, as new tech isn't always "better!"  We need to remember that Confucius said: "Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without!"

Please share your thoughts through the blog page.

Regards,

Yossie

YossieFrankel

Director of Technology

Check out my blog @ technorebbe.com

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