Today, computers are assisting in the development of new innovations, significantly speeding up the development process. New advances in technology are rendering computers of a year ago obsolete. No sooner is a computer model manufactured than the next one has rolled off the design presses, and no end is in sight. Computer designers are now moving beyond silicon chips to using DNA chips ... a move from geologic roots to biologic roots, making the computer an even closer representation of man.
New advances in technology are being introduced at greater and greater speeds. Today's workers learn to use new technology every few months. How can students learn to embrace change and acclimate to new technologies as they emerge? What can schools do to help?
- Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel Corp., stated
in 1965 that the number of components able to be packed onto a computer
chip would double every year. In 1975, he updated what has become known
as Moore's Law, to say that this increase in computing power would double every
two years (though most people erroneously quote it as every eighteen months.)
Still, doubling yields exponential growth that has a tremendous impact on
our lives.
- Technological advances used to take years, awaiting
birth in the gray matter of some risk-taking, creative individual. Most
school children learn the names of Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Eli
Whitney as great inventors; but who are the inventors of today? Technological
advances are occurring at a rapid pace, the result of the efforts of individuals,
teams of individuals, and companies.
- Resources to help you keep up with rapidly changing
technology:
- http://wired.lycos.com/wired/current.html/ - Wired Magazine
- http://wired.lycos.com/news/ - Wired News
- http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/tech/ - New York Times Technology Section
- http://www.centerdigitaled.com/converge/
- Converge Magazine
