The anti-education era : creating smarter students through digital learning / James Paul Gee.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface -- 1. Orwell's question: why are humans so stupid? -- Part 1. How to be stupid : -- 2. Short-circuiting the circuit of human reflective action -- 3. The limits of human memory -- 4. Mental comfort stories -- 5. Lack of context -- 6 Lack of experience -- 7. Pitfalls along our search for status and solidarity -- 8. Words gone awry -- 9. Lack of agency -- 10. Institutions and frozen thought -- 11. Fact-free stories that sound good -- 12. Imagined kin -- 13. Lonely groups of one -- 14. When not to trust experts -- 15. Evading knowledge -- 16. Flight from complexity -- Part 2. How to get smart before it's too late : -- 17. Inclusive we: how we can all get smarter together -- 18. Big minds, not little minds -- 19. Mind visions and new, better worlds -- 20. Synchronized intelligence: getting our minds and tools in synch -- 21. Interlude to forestall possible misunderstandings -- 22. Getting smarter before it's too late.

Today's schools are eager to use the latest technology in the classroom, but rather than improving learning, the new e-media can just as easily narrow students' horizons. Education innovator James Paul Gee first documented the educational benefits of gaming a decade ago in his classic What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Now, with digital and social media at the center of modern life, he issues an important warning that groundbreaking new technologies, far from revolutionizing schooling, can stymy the next generation's ability to resolve deep global challenges. The solution--and perhaps our children's future--lies in what Gee calls synchronized intelligence, a way of organizing people and their digital tools to solve problems, produce knowledge, and allow people to count and contribute. Gee explores important strategies and tools for today's parents, educators, and policy makers, including virtual worlds, artificial tutors, and ways to create collective intelligence where everyday people can solve hard problems. By harnessing the power of human creativity with interactional and technological sophistication we can finally overcome the limitations of today's failing educational system and solve problems in our high-risk global world. This is a powerful and important call to reshape digital learning, engage children in a meaningful educational experience, and bridge inequality.