The article Understanding the Future of Technology in the Classroom, written by Tiffany Richards, poses a number of questions in response to another article, Will Bitcoin Change How Kids Learn to Count? by Nicola Smith. At a first glance I wondered, "What does bitcoin have to do with the classroom?" I had only heard of bitcoin once, from a friend who has a degree in Computer Science, and didn't think much of it at the time.
Bitcoin is a type of digital currency known as "cryptocurrency." After reading both articles, I have to agree with Richards - bitcoin is such an abstract concept that it is difficult for many people, including me, to understand. Bitcoin has not yet reached prominence in daily transactions, and for that reason I think that it may not become relevant in the classroom for a long time.
The second article argues that more consideration will need to be given if bitcoin does achieve this prominence in our economy. The article states that children need concrete examples of money to learn how to use it, and I agree. The use of manipulatives to teach math is a common and highly effective method. As long as bitcoin ties back the type of physical currency that we use today, I don't think that this issue will be a problem in the classroom. The real problem would arise if the standard of society become the use of only digital currency and transactions through credit cards. If such a thing happens in the future, teachers will need to find a way to represent abstract concepts in more concrete ways. The idea is certainly something to think about, but I don't believe that this will become an issue for many years to come.
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