The informal learning environments of television, video games,
and the Internet are producing learners with a new profile of
cognitive skills. This profile features widespread and sophisticated
development of visual-spatial skills, such as iconic representation
and spatial visualization. A pressing social problem is the
prevalence of violent video games, leading to desensitization,
aggressive behavior, and gender inequity in opportunities to
develop visual-spatial skills. Formal education must adapt to
these changes, taking advantage of new strengths in visual-spatial
intelligence and compensating for new weaknesses in higher-order
cognitive processes: abstract vocabulary, mindfulness, reflection,
inductive problem solving, critical thinking, and imagination.
These develop through the use of an older technology, reading,
which, along with audio media such as radio, also stimulates
imagination. Informal education therefore requires a balanced
media diet using each technology's specific strengths in order
to develop a complete profile of cognitive skills.
