thoughts re "Students & Learning"

The following ponderings are based on the reading in chapter 2 of Web 2.0 new tools, new schools. On page 26 the author references work from marc Prensky in which he calls today's students "digital natives". I wonder what percentage of our students at Concord High School truly qualify as "digital natives"? and perhaps even more important what are the implications for those who do not? What are our responsibilities to bring more of our students into this realm. As any who have read my earlier entries have noticed I angst over the equity issues involved for students whom do not have either the availability or knowledge necessary to access this exciting world. Prensky goes on to talk of the idea that our students are thinking and processing information in fundamentally different ways. I get this, but still wonder where the research is to back up this claim as well what are the implications for teaching and learning implied by this statement.
The author goes one to share statistics about contact time for students on the web. The numbers are impressive, but I worry about the depth of that contact time. I watch too many kids spending time on the computer, doing a large amount of time clicking and perhaps scanning information; but continue to worry about the depth of thinking taking place connected to this process. Kids are definitely connected through facebook and myspace, but most of that time (at least to my 50 year old eyes) seems very superficial. I certainly see the benefit from the growing interactive quality of the web. The authors share work from Levin & Arafeh, 2002 criticizing the growing divide in how students use the web at school vs. how they use the web on their own time. Stating " Many schools and teachers have not yet recognized-much less responded to- the new ways students communicate and access information over the Internet." My experience has shown me that this statement is very accurate. Unfortunately schools (public) maybe becoming even more separate, I see two reasons for this distancing. One, simply lack of technology, having enough machines for all students to have even weekly access (and lack of conductivity on the machines we do have). The second issue maybe even bigger (though less expensive) that is concern over the social nature of web 2.0. Teachers and school districts tend to be very nurturing and protective of students and worry about opening access to and for students.