Prensky makes the argument that, as a result, students’ brains and their methods of processing information are fundamentally different than the brains of older, “digital immigrants.” The phrase, which originated with Prensky’s seminal 2001 work, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,” describes the fact that today’s students are among the first to grow up with new technologies, such as computers, digital music players, cell phones, and other mobile devices, and to have these technologies serve as integral parts of their lives. The phrase “digital natives” has become ubiquitous, used to describe today’s technologically-savvy students. A blended digital and print approach, with interactive and collaborative digital tools, means that all learners are supported in developing the skills needed for college and career success. Interactive tools for close reading, annotating, and writing, and resources for additional learning, engage students in learning, skill building, and practice. In the Collections program, technology is used purposefully to facilitate instruction and learning. Technology must be used for specific purposes to support content-learning and skill acquisition and must meet design requirements, such as those specified by Mayer in his research (2001, 2005, 2013). While studies attest to the positive impact of technology in the classroom, technology alone does not improve student learning. These students have grown up with technology, leading to Prensky (2001) to use the term “digital natives” to describe them.
Nearly all high school students surveyed said that they use technology to study or complete school assignments for homework (CDW, 2011). Students ages 8 to 18 spend an average of 1 ½ hours on the computer each day (Rideout, Foehr & Roberts, Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010). Numerous studies have attested to the effectiveness of technology to facilitate student learning and increase achievement in the classroom (see syntheses and meta-analyses conducted by Cheung & Slavin, 2012a, 2012b Goldberg, Russell & Cook, 2003 Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia & Jones, 2010 Waxman, Lin & Michko, 2003 Tamim, Bernard, Borokhosvski, Abrami & Schmid, 2011 and Teh & Fraser, 1994).īy using technology in and out of the classroom for content learning, teachers meet students where they are, using a medium that engages them. The combination of the major research recommendations and the related features of the Collections program will help readers better understand how the program incorporates research into its instructional design.Ī reference list of works cited is provided at the end of this document. This section explains how the research data are exemplified in the Collections program. This section identifies subtopics within each strand and provides excerpts from and summaries of relevant research on each subtopic.
The Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Collections program integrates each of these research strands into a program that research suggests will support students as they encounter and produce increasingly complex texts. The program is built around what we know about effective instruction in the English classroom-how to support students in reading complex texts and writing effectively across genres-and what we know about how best to meet the needs of all learners through differentiation, ongoing assessment, and 21st-century technological tools. The purpose of this document is to demonstrate clearly and explicitly the current and confirmed scientific research base for Collections © 2017. With a blend of print and digital resources and online tools, the program delivers 21st-century learning. The program develops students’ writing across varied genres with models of effective texts and ample opportunities for writing about texts. Developed around rigorous state standards and expectations, the program challenges and supports all students to become critical and close readers. The program is anchored on a set of rich, engaging, and complex literary and informational texts, and is designed to develop students’ abilities to analyze complex texts, cite from sources, reason, and communicate orally and in writing. The Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ® Collections program for Grades 6 through 12 is a comprehensive English language arts program.