Get Connected

  

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I had the opportunity during Parents’ Weekend at Harvard last month to hear Nicholas Christakis talk about his new book Connected. I was so taken by the presentation that I recommended the book to my book club, and we finally got to discuss it last week. I highlight the book here because I think it reinforces some important lessons for education. First, while brain research attracts great attention, we can’t forget that the expression of our cognitive capacities is heavily influenced by the context in which it emerges. Understanding who we are (and our students are) comes not just from looking inside each child’s head. We must also understand the inputs and experiences around that child. Connected, which focuses on the power of social networks (real ones, not just the virtual ones) to direct behavior, provides vivid accounts of that intersection between individual and group.

Christakis and co-author James Fowler map social networks and show how an individual’s place in the network matters. Being in the center brings the benefit of a good and constant flow of information. If you’re at the hub, you know what’s going on. However, being at the center also puts you most at risk in the event of disease. You’re very likely to get it. Being at the edge of the network, on the other hand, has the opposite positive and negative consequences. You may not get the latest gossip, but you’re more likely to survive an epidemic. This mapping leads me to my second lesson for education: diversity is inevitable and good. For the group to survive, we need members who are outgoing and friendly as well as those who are introverted and shy. Christakis suggests that there may be an evolutionary benefit to the diversity of personalities. For education, that range is both reassuring and challenging. Yes, our kids are indeed different from one another. So how do we manage classroom norms and expectations about performances like classroom participation when some students may be more predisposed to raising their hands than others?

Everyone can make a positive contribution to the classroom network, and we need multiple pathways to engage and express that contribution. That doesn’t mean that we should lock students into particular personality types or learning styles. It does mean, though, that we need different kinds of support for different students so that they can have success with their preferred paths as well as ones that take more initial effort. Balancing our natural inclinations with the potential amplifying or stultifying effects of social context and technology is at once a great pedagogical challenge and opportunity. We still have much to learn about how to take advantage of the human and technological influencers available to educators. We’re making progress.

Photo Credit: www.connectedthebook.com