Integrating Educational Technology without Annihilating Nature

In the article, “Integrating Educational Technology without Annihilating Nature,” by R.W. Burniske, a weeklong series of online and face-to-face learning activities were used on selected students, in hopes that they would acquire a greater understanding and appreciation of nature, while exploring the importance of education and technology in their lives.
Burniske is concerned that online learning offers the promise of an explicit curriculum that takes the learners to another time and place; however, it potentially neglects students from their immediate surroundings. Students are becoming more interested in technology than being aware of what’s in their own back yard. Therefore, we have to be aware of the ethical concerns that attend the integration of information and communication technologies.
One technique Burniske suggests for teaching with technology is to create learning activities that pay attention to immediate, real world places, events and creatures while integrating technology for learning about distant places, events and creatures. Teachers must strive for balance between computer-assisted and real world learning and help students examine the relationship between education, technology and nature.
Students need the guidance of thoughtful teachers who will help them focus on their immediate surroundings and examine the connections between education, technology and nature. Ultimately, the integration of educational technology will be a difficult and impossible achievement unless it teaches students the significance of using new tools in a responsible and ethical fashion.


-Is it possible to integrate technology and introduce the process of globalization without annihilating a child's connection with the natural world?

-Ultimately, how might education help preserve nature while introducing networked technology to the classroom for teaching and learning about globalization?

Integration of Technology in the Classroom

Keeping Nature in the Classroom

Technology versus Nature

Jessica Sheng

Integrating Educational Technology Without Annihilating Nature

(MAC image)

The article "Sharing the Sacred Fire: Integrating Educational Technology Without Annihilating Nature", by R.W Burniske is an informative summary of an example of using technology as a supplement to real-world learning. Burniske's main points fall under finding a balance between education, technology and nature, or real-world learning. The article decribes a specific event in which several students from Sao Paulo, Brazil underwent a learning workshop to help integrate the use of technology as an educational tool. This tool was used to help support learning about nature and the surrounding environment in which the students were placed. One of the challenges mentioned in the article about using technology is the tendency for technology to allow students to experience a globalized world, and therefore possibly paying less attention to their own surroundings right outside the classroom. Buriske suggested ways to integrate the 'real-world' things through physical exploration, while using technology as a tool to reflect on students' experiences. Overall the article stressed finding a balance between both technology and nature and teaching students how to work with technology tools in a responsible manner.


Question: Do you think that in many of today's classrooms students are using technology in a way that is linking them to their own environment or making them look beyond it to a more globalized perspective?

Here are some links related to the article:

Technology vs Nature: What is Natural?

Ideas for Integrating Technology Education Into Everyday Learning


Technology In Nature


Kristi Martin