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Schools That Ban Mobile Phones See Better Academic Results
HughPickens.com writes: Jamie Doward reports at The Guardian that according to a recent study in the UK, the effect of banning mobile phones from school premises adds up to the equivalent of an extra week's schooling over a pupil's academic year with the test scores of students aged 16 improved by 6.4% after schools banned mobile phones, "We found that not only did student achievement improve, but also that low-achieving and low-income students gained the most. We found the impact of banning phones for these students was equivalent to an additional hour a week in school, or to increasing the school year by five days." In the UK, more than 90% of teenagers own a mobile phone; in the US, just under three quarters have one. In a survey conducted in 2001, no school banned mobiles. By 2007, this had risen to 50%, and by 2012 some 98% of schools either did not allow phones on school premises or required them to be handed in at the beginning of the day. But some schools are starting to allow limited use of the devices. New York mayor Bill de Blasio has lifted a 10-year ban on phones on school premises, with the city's chancellor of schools stating that it would reduce inequality.
The research was carried out at Birmingham, London, Leicester and Manchester schools before and after bans were introduced (PDF). It factored in characteristics such as gender, eligibility for free school meals, special educational needs status and prior educational attainment. "Technological advancements are commonly viewed as increasing productivity," write Louis-Philippe Beland and Richard Murphy. "Modern technology is used in the classroom to engage students and improve performance. There are, however, potential drawbacks as well, as they could lead to distractions."
The research was carried out at Birmingham, London, Leicester and Manchester schools before and after bans were introduced (PDF). It factored in characteristics such as gender, eligibility for free school meals, special educational needs status and prior educational attainment. "Technological advancements are commonly viewed as increasing productivity," write Louis-Philippe Beland and Richard Murphy. "Modern technology is used in the classroom to engage students and improve performance. There are, however, potential drawbacks as well, as they could lead to distractions."
now get rid of the stupid ipads and chromebooks (as in, technology in technology classes only) and results will be even better.
Shocking
A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
If that's really what lifting the ban does, then I'm fine with it. I just don't see how allowing phones will accomplish this (ie - I have an iPhone 6 and you're stuck with a hand-me-down MicroTac).
As usual, don't trust journalists. :(
My first program:
Hell Segmentation fault
Introducing noise making distractions to reduce intellectual inequality.
another interesting measurement equivalent brought to you by your friends at SlashDot
We might see a great deal of improvement, particularly for the underachieving ones.
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The logic is stupid. In the late 1990s and early 2000s I went to a high school that banned electronic devices essentially. Mainly they said they banned phones, but technically any kind of electronic device was banned. It was the stupidest policy ever when near EVERY kid (it was a well to do area) had one in school. Nobody took them out in class and eventually they changed the rules such that they were allowed in school, but the devices had to be turned off. The later policy made a lot more sense. There are perfectly valid reasons to carry a phone and not all young people are irresponsible. I had all sorts of electronics in school (Palm PDA, Jornada 840 handheld, and cell phone) and primarily benefited from it academically. The phone was rarely used and while I did actually keep it on I didn't text people or receive texts (wasn't a fan of texting). Nobody called me during school hours and the phone was in vibrate anyway. It was more or less handy for getting rides if I stayed after school. Was there a payphone? Yes. But if nobody answers your stuck walking. Should I have had to walk just because I decided to stay after TO LEARN? That's non-sense. That would only give me a disincentive to stay after and study-or seek academic help.
You should never ban something because of a few bad apples. It's bad policy it's bad law.
So you stopped allowing student to distract themselves and there grades went up. Of course you have to wonder why students don't have the discipline to focus with electronics in the classroom, and no matter what I say, people will get mad so meh.
because
When I was a kid we weren't allowed to bring basketballs to school. Nor were we allowed to bring walkie-talkies. We couldn't bring treadmills to use during class. A distraction is a distraction. How can anyone be surprised that banning them improves academic performance. The only thing surprising is that they weren't banned a decade ago.
I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
Hence banning mobile phones may be not the cause of the better results. Correlation is not causation. Causation needs specific, strong supporting evidence.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
New York mayor Bill de Blasio has lifted a 10-year ban on phones on school premises
They were banned a decade ago. That's part of how they were able to do the study. It's in the summary. Have your phone on you?
I have no doubt that its a distraction and phones should be kept off. I get that kids today are far more into technology and that they consider phone a necessity.
But I also think its a teaching lesson for further down the road. The work environment suffers in productivity due to people surfing the web and texting. Time and place for everything and its better to get that into kids heads early then have them develop bad habits.
*duh*, or is it derp?
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Westwood HS in Austin - recently 1st in TX / 3rd highest ranking public school in the US allows use of phones during class. There's an argument to be made applying their data.
I hope they didn't pay much for the data. *Any* teacher could have told told you as much. Cellphones in school endlessly distract students from their work, and thus harm learning and grades. I'll be very surprised if the permissive North American school system ever addresses the problem effectively. However, even the most phone-addicted kids will eventually learn about the perils of inappropriate cellphone use -- leaving a trail of ex-employers in the process.
What a surprise that children, not texting under their desks can actually pay attention to the class instruction. Who would have guessed that?
When I was a kid, we didn't even know what basketballs were. We used to have to throw severed heads through hoops, and let me tell you, it's tough to dribble a severed head. And instead of the "pick and roll" we had the "disembowel and roll". That's why nobody wanted to play defense.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Wait... there are actually schools out there that don't ban mobile phones?!?
While they're at it, why not allow them to bring an Xbox into the classroom?
It is not only in school, also on work technology often means less productivity. I'm constantly interrupted by mails that some senders insist on being answered right away and lately by phones messages (since the boss thought that everyone needs a smart phone for rapid communication, the thing keeps on buzzing every 10 minutes. Often with nonsense, questions that shouldn't have been asked because they remember the answer after pressing send etc...
I'm just glad that cell phones are still allowed. What would happen if a student needed to call 911 for an ambulance, fire engine or police? What if there was, god forbid, a school shooting? How would students call the authorities from the classroom if cell phones are banned?
Lucky bastard! You had hoops! We had to compound fracture our own arms in 4 places so we could simulate a hoop, and use our own faces as backboards. And that's the way we liked it!
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
A smartphone is a distraction. It has no place in schools.
actually it has NOTHING to do with race... it has to do with a video of a woman screaming about her obamaphone. If you havent seen it maybe you should so you can stop with the faux outrage over non existing racism
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Too often kids are focused on their shoes, or fashion, or yes, their phone. Anything really that makes them seem imperceptibly better than their peers. In my opinion, schools would do well to switch to uniforms and keep phones out of class rooms. The less inconsequential nonsense they have to care about, the better.
Kids need to have phones in school, but not in the classroom.
Most of the time kids spend in school are not used to further education. That's probably a good thing. Kids need to me to relax, time to socialize, and time to let what they just learned settle in. They need less time sitting in rows.
My kids home schooled, and they finished "school work" in a few hours a week. Then they spent time on projects, community volunteering, and working with their parents. When they went to public high school, they were way ahead of grade in academic subjects, and even further ahead in social skills.
You could get a 6% improvement by getting a marginally better teacher, or slightly motivating the same teacher. This study really means nothing. The average school is more a warehouse than an institution of learning.
Disclaimer: I have extensive teaching experience from middle school to university undergrad.
Schools with administrators smart enough to ban smart phones tend to be in better school districts.
are the lectures good or just reading the text book? if they are just reading then people will goof off is forced lectures.
This is probably part of the problem. I had one lecturer that taught directly from the book. He was so boring I had to start playing games in class to stay awake. It didn't help that the class was 1-3pm or some such.
no text.
... then people are actually suffering from 'degradation effect' after they've grown up
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We didn't bother with hoops because we never got in shooting range, on account of how steep the court was. Both ways.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
N/T
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This. I could not really attend classes where the professor only read the book. Boring as hell.
You mean the Bush phone? After all the first cellphones were issued in 2008, when Bush was president.
Ah, forced lectures, good point. The only time I've had those was during teacher training, and they would circulate a list you'd sign. The natural solution was that as long as some of your friends were there, they could sign for you. That's a win-win if it makes the lecture better for those who actually care about it.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Both ways? You had a full court!? And you couldn't be bothered to set up hoops to shoot from half-court? Dang, you're the most entitled of them all. You're all lucky to have a court - we had to play on the street shooting through the broken window of whatever car was being robbed at the time. When it came to picking teams, you picked the players that were best at dodging cars and bullets.
All the kids with phones that could dial 911 won't have them. I think I would be filing a law suit against these schools for violating my rights.
I was in HS from 1990-1994, and, having a pager or cell phone would yield these consequences:
1) Confiscation of device and collected into a school "evidence" bag
2) Detainment while the police arrives
3) K9 sweep of your locker and any "associates"
4) In school suspension for at least a week
But, apparantly, times have changed and having a cell phone or pager is no big deal. The original reason for their draconian response was that they thought you were a drug dealer.
They would also confiscate CD players, portable cassette players, and handheld radios if you were caught using them during class time; before/after school and lunch was allowed. The reason for that was it was deamed that those devices would be a distraction to the students and surrounding students in class.
During a lull at Maker Faire this weekend, and surfing slashdot on my phone, I see this article and point it out to an educator that had a booth near ours. He found it amusing I showed this on my mobile device, and he said article is true. His children may have a phone but he ignores calls from them when they get stumped on a exam question.
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