五、閱讀測驗：
 I.Because students’ lives today are saturated with digital media at a time when their brainsare still developing, several popular press authors suggest that media use has profoundlyaffected students’ abilities, preferences, and attitudes related to learning. They claim that“digital natives” (often defined as those born after 1980) have a distinctive set ofcharacteristics that includes preference for speed, nonlinear processing, multitasking, andsocial learning, allegedly developed through immersion in digital technology duringchildhood and adolescence when neural plasticity is high. Some worry that the newgeneration of students may be incapable of deep learning and productive work, while otherstake an optimistic view of the skill set these learners are developing but claim that educatorsare failing them by not adapting instruction to their needs. All of these popular authors delivertheir claims with urgency and an insistence that educators must respond today.
       Many academic researchers have criticized the popular claims about the digital nativesbased on the lack of empirical evidence supporting them. The popular press writers makebroad recommendations for changes in the school systems and curricula, supporting theirclaims mainly with anecdotal evidence or proprietary data that is not available for scrutiny.Nevertheless the claims influence the thinking of educators and administrators makingdecisions about technology investment and curriculum design. They may also lead instructorsto make unsupported assumptions about their students’ mastery of educational technology andtherefore neglect to teach students the skills they need for academic success.
        Despite the shortcomings of these popular press claims, the possibility that children whogrow up immersed in digital media think and learn differently from those who grew up withprinted text has intuitive appeal, and research on neural plasticity has shown that our brains doindeed change in response to our repeated experiences. Since neural plasticity can lead toeither adaptive or maladaptive changes, these characteristics could manifest themselves inways that are productive for learning, or in ways that interfere with learning. Thus, the field ofeducation needs more empirical study on whether and how technology immersion isassociated with behaviors and attitudes related to learning.
【題組】36. What is the passage mainly about?
(A) Illustrating the importance of latest educational technologies.
(B) Requesting for investigation into learning immersed in technologies.
(C) Proposing a theory of employing technologies in classroom learning.
(D) Modifying theories of emerging technologies for adolescent learning.