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Can Students Have Too Much Tech?
theodp writes: In a NY Times Op Ed, developmental psychologist Susan Pinker goes against the conventional White House wisdom about the importance of Internet connectivity for schoolchildren and instead argues that students can have too much tech. "More technology in the classroom has long been a policy-making panacea," Pinker writes. "But mounting evidence shows that showering students, especially those from struggling families, with networked devices will not shrink the class divide in education. If anything, it will widen it." Tech can help the progress of children, Pinker acknowledges, but proper use is the rub. As a cautionary tale, Pinker cites a study by Duke economists that tracked the academic progress of nearly one million disadvantaged middle-school students against the dates they were given networked computers. The news was not good. "Students who gain access to a home computer between the 5th and 8th grades tend to witness a persistent decline in reading and math scores," the economists wrote, adding that license to surf the Internet was also linked to lower grades in younger children.
Every serious (read "non-vendor-sponsored") study for the last 20 years has shown that computers in school hinder education.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
A general purpose computer is only useful if the student is willing to use it for a certain specific purpose. Given that there's a whole lot of temptation to use it for things that the student wants to do, rather than the things that the student is supposed to do, it can be incredibly easy to not be productive with the very machine that was intended to increase productivity.
I don' think that general-purpose computers should be used in schools without software to limit the use of the computers. That can be for a duration, like during class time or during the school day, or it can be full-time, so that a computer is still limited to its intended function in its entirety, but leaving computers open to do anything just means that much more opportunity to not do work.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Yes, I have never liked tech in class. Never!
"Students who gain access to a home computer between the 5th and 8th grades tend to witness a persistent decline in reading and math scores," the economists wrote, adding that license to surf the Internet was also linked to lower grades in younger children.
About me: I am a former full-time teacher:
Now my $0.02.
That's why kids from the so called "third world," that come here consistently beat our own kids in all subjects that really matter. Why? Their brains were conditioned to think. They only used PCs if they had any, at home. And only when homework was complete. Homework done the "old fashined" way.
Look folks, there's so much distraction in class that kids can't really learn. It's hard for such young minds to focus. The trouble is that our learned colleagues submit studies that are clearly biased, and what can you say? The contract to supply the latest gadget is inked! It's a sad state of affairs now. The so called "third world kids" when here, quickly catch up with tech and do even better. Is anyone listening?
Its what tech, and how the tech is used. Both in the Apple and Microsoft Camp, our schools have been and are being fleeced for billions possibly Trillions to buy grade school and high school kids toys, from MacBooks, to iPads, to Surface Tablets. Linux and Android technologies that could be used to teach effective use of problem solving in Math, science, Literacy, and assistive technologies for the Disabled are being shut out to prop up wholesale robbery of the tax payer to buy media consumption platforms to create an addict user base that is helpless without effective tools.
...or a great distraction. Not too surprising that handing a kid a tablet and turning him loose doesn't work out too well, but what do I know, I've only work in educational IT for 20 years. A properly supported computer (don't try to make teachers into sys admins) supervised by a properly trained teacher can be very useful in a classroom setting. But training and support are expensive and unsexy, so who the hell wants that?
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
Students can be motivated in other ways than by tests and grades. Using tests and grades really teaches kids that they should dislike school.
Alfie Kohn makes The Case Against Grades.
A favorite passage:
Just throwing money, or tools of any kind, at a given problem isn't going to inherently address the problem.
Throwing money at a problem generally leads to a well-funded problem, not a solution.