More Research on Computers and Learning

A link to more research on computers and learning:  Obstacle to Learning?

All we need is . . .

I recently posted some of my views questioning the role of technology in education. Here is an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education on Why Technology Will Never Fix Education. It appears that basic skills and motivation are the real stepping stones to acquiring an education.

Reflections on Old Skills

I realize technology keeps our lifestyles going. I appreciate being able to listen to directions when I travel. I blog, and I love what digital has done for photography. But I am a bit of a luddite when it comes to young children and electronic gadgets. It is not the use of technology I question, but rather the skills it may be replacing.

"Research suggest that shoring up mental reserves as we age may also protect against the onslaught of Alzheimer's. This approach may delay onset of the disease or possibly help retain cognitive function longer if it does strike. Building cognitive reserves (which is also being done when we use maps instead of depending on GSP) begins in childhood as we expand reading skills." 

Reading does wonderful things for the brain. It stimulates the ability to remember, to empathize, to learn. Reading improves vocabulary and helps us create worlds in our minds through the use of word. "Stanford University researchers have found that close literary reading, in particular, gives your brain a workout in multiple complex cognitive functions."  Many children today, however, would rather play a game on their tablet than get lost in a book.

I also wonder how cell phones will affect language acquisition. A mother talking constantly on her cell phone while she cares for a baby, may not be speaking in the wonderful parentese speak
(exaggerated lip movement and intense eye contact) that people throughout the world use to communicate to infants. What does a baby learn when a parent appears to be continuously talking into space? How many parents dilute the time they spend with their child to check a phone text or Facebook? A UK study suggested "technology gadgets are blamed for a 70% leap in speech problems in the past six years."

Attention is another changing aspect of the digital age. We talk of multi-tasking but research shows that we don't multi-task. The human brain merely jumps rapidly from one thing to another, giving both activities short shrift.

Research indicates that while learning occurs when "multi-tasking", it is less flexible, more specialized, and harder to retrieve when needed. It is also difficult to transfer, generalize or extrapolate the information to a different setting. Depth and continuity of thought are disrupted when multi-tasking. MRIs reveal that different parts of the brain are used when multi-tasking compared to focusing on a single activity. The article reported "In cases where individuals switch between tasks their performance is worse than when they perform the same tasks individually." (Delbridge, 2001). " Multitasking: The good, the bad, and the unknown

Those who marvel at the benefits of technologies forget that most people still have underlying abilities which support their use of that technology. Researching on the Internet is easy for those with good reading and organizational skills. Twenty years ago a second grader might do a book report on an age appropriate topic. Today many students are asked to do research on the Internet before they have the ability to scan, select, and organize large amounts of material.

We know how children learn language, gain social skills, master reading, and acquire the ability to attend to a task. We realize mastering these skills takes time and practice, and that some children have to work harder and require more time than others. In the rush to utilize technology, let's not rush young children through this learning period. Let's not direct their interest to fast moving games with immediate rewards. Let's not use technology as a way to reduce parent interaction with children. Technology is supposed to work for us. It should expand our knowledge, not limit our abilities.

Map It!

While planning a short trip this weekend, I started thinking about maps. Having recently acquired a great camera, I wanted to drive along back roads in the hopes of finding something picturesque. Plotting my trip on Google maps was a nightmare. Google wants me to take the Interstate (which we all know is scenic wonderland) and had a fit when I attempted to pull the shortest route in a different direction.  It was so annoying having to make the map smaller and larger as I plotted my route that I finally pulled out my trusty atlas of "The Roads of Texas." 

Some of us are old enough to remember road trips of our youth filled with license plate viewing games, stops at Stuckeys, and watching seemingly endless landscapes change while our parents argued about how to refold a map. We got a first hand view of the vastness of the southwest, the height of the Rockies, and the differences in regional restaurants and speech. Children of today will remember road trips filled with electronic games, cell phones, fast food, and selfies taken in the back seat as a robotic voice from the front says turn left. 

Several years ago I asked 4th graders about their spring break ski vacations and discovered that many of them had no idea what state they visited. Sometimes if a I listed a few ski places: Taos? Aspen? Breckenridge? it might ring a bell. One child's family even had a condo that they visited several times a year, yet the child looked blank when I asked where it was. Obviously, if a family has enough money for a ski vacation the lack of location awareness can't be put down to economic deprivation. But in this world of cell phone maps and GPS is learning to read a paper map, locating a country on a globe, or remembering how to get to a new friend's house worthwhile skills? What is acquired from reading paper maps and navigating without GPS ?

•  "Spatial navigation skills can cause the hippocampus and the brain to grow, forming more neural pathways as the number of mental maps increase. Neuroscientist Veroniques Bohbot said, 'The results of studies suggest using spatial memory regularly may improve the function of the hippocampus and could help ward off cognitive impairment as we age." 
• People learn by creating paradigms.  Knowledge of a location helps a child remember what happened there. It is more difficult to learn and memorize history or current events if you don't have a mental image of where it happened. 
• Understanding a region's climate and environment makes travel more fun.  A study from the Applied Research in Quality of Life found that vacationers felt the happiest before a trip! It is difficult to enjoy the anticipation of travel if one has no idea where one is going. 
• People dutifully following a GPS have been known to drive off bridges, go the wrong way, or get totally lost. Walking head down following a phone with GPS limits a person's perception of what is around them, and how they got from here to there. Orientation and navigation skills help a person feel more in control. "The more humans uses GPS, the more cut off from the real world they might become," writes Rebecca Maxwell. 
• Getting a perspective of the size of states, countries, or towns is easier on a globe or large map. While we may appreciate the ease of a map on a phone, a child may not yet have an image to relate size and direction. 

School children are still asked to make maps of their classrooms and taught to read a map. Like any skill, practice adds to the mastery. I urge parents to make maps and a globe available to a child. Plan a trip with your child. Use a map to locate where you are going and how you are getting there. Discuss what you might see and what else is in the area. Ask your child to give you directions to the local grocery store. Play a few observation games on a road trip. Give your child skills that give her confidence to notice and question an obviously incorrect robotic voice's direction.

This is Not Your Parent's Homeschool!

My academic education began and ended in public schools. My teaching career began in public schools and ended in private schools. Since I retired I have met more and more families who home school. Just as public and private schools have changed through the years so has the concept of a home school. It is estimated that about 3% of U.S. students K-12 are homeschooled. This is an estimate for several reasons, one of which is that some states, such as TX and California, do not required students be registered.  But did you know . . .

• Parents consider homeschooling for a variety of reasons. Parents may want their child in a school that follows a specific religious or educational philosophy. Some parents realize their child needs more individual instruction than is available at the local school. A family may find themselves transferred for a short time and decide to home school. A parent might feel an immature child needs another year at home to get the most benefit from the public school. There are many individual reasons parents consider homeschooling.
• Parents aren't necessarily the only teachers in a home school.A small group of parents may decide to share the teaching. Some parents hire tutors to teach some or all of the subjects. Students may be taught by other family members such as a grandparent.  Parents have formed part-time private schools that are open two or three days a week. These schools hire state certified teachers and provide a curriculum. Students go to school a few days a week and learn at home the other days. Parents pay a low tuition and students get individualized attention at home. Here is an example of such a school started by a group of parents.  http://www.tcshouston.org/about-tcs/about-tcs---overview
• The Internet has a plethora of offerings for the  homeschooler. There are states that provide a free curriculum and classes through the Internet. Parents take advantage of Internet offerings such as those presented on Khan Academy and communicate with other parents through home schooling groups. There are even tutors available on-line.
• Children may be home schooled a semester, a year, or several years.
• If you think your child has learning differences(LDs) I strongly recommend you contact a local LD advocacy group. If there is not local group, contact a state or national group. Make sure you receive the services required by federal law even if you home school.

If you are thinking of homeschooling do your research. Know your state's laws, check  the availability of charter and private schools, and know your own abilities and limitations. A child with a learning difference needs a skilled teacher. Some parents do a wonderful job working with a child with LDs, some parents find someone who will do a wonderful job, and some parents discover that it is beyond their abilities. Home schooling is not for everyone, but those who want to try it should not limit the vision of school.

Tykes and Technology

Many, many years ago I taught computer classes to grade school children.  This was a time when computers were new to the classroom. Most students were enchanted with computers,  and parents were bedazzled by a classroom filled with Apple IIc's. Fast forward to the present and parents are still enamored -- students not so much.

Yet our schools put more and more money into technology. It is estimated that over 2 billion  dollars is spent a year in K-5 public schools for technology. Having worked in private schools I know most parents love it if a school has smart boards, smart phones, computerized instruction, and a couple of computer/laptop labs. The reasons given for this enchantment include:

1. My child is being prepared for the future.
2. My child has access to this at home, so he will get bored if he doesn't get it at school
3. It looks so cool.
4. It can be individualized and she can learn at her own pace!
5. He can go to places and see things through that computer that he couldn't do with just a teacher and books.

Let's consider these reasons:

1. Preparing for the future? The technology will change before your kindergartner reaches middle school.

2. Has it at home? Why yes, and your nine-year-old  is no longer fascinated by it at school. In fact she may be bored and annoyed that school doesn't let her play the neat games she has on her personal tablet.

3. It looks cool. You are right, it does! Just as cool as a butterfly coming out of a chrysalis, or the new wooden castle on the playground, or many of the other delights a child might find in a school.

4. It can be individualized. Maybe. It depends on the program, the teacher, and the school. Remember an individualized program isn't synonymous for an interesting program. The percent of completion by adults of online courses is reported at less than 7%.

5. Virtual field trips are fun! That can be great if a class takes a trip to Antarctica or Mozambique.  But a younger child might get more from a trip to a local site than an interactive TV show. 

Computer educators rave about the use of technology to help children create, control, and collaborate. Many schools, however, use technology to control, placate, and give the teachers a break. Does this mean technology is useless? Of course not.

Technology allows some children to bloom. It gives schools opportunities to open far away worlds to their students. Technology allows and encourages collaboration which may help students become interested in a project or responsible to a group. (The ones who don't, however, tend to bring down the group and create  kids who hate group work.) Technology never gets tired or bored and so can deliver structured, repetitive practice better than humans. (We won't talk about what repetitive movements do to a child's hands.) There are many pluses for using technology in schools.

For young children, however, technology isn't a substitute for good teachers and tactile materials. Children still like a human telling them they are doing something correctly. They still need someone who notices they are having trouble understanding or are having a bad day. Children need to touch, and move, and make messes. They need to focus up close at an ant and look far to the distant clouds. Too much screen time can upset a sleep cycle, or take time from playing with others, or make one a couch potato.

Technology is not going anywhere, but parents and teachers need to communicate how much time a child spends in front of a bright screen at home as well as school. We shouldn't be beguiled by the hype presented by companies that are becoming rich through selling their newest technology to our schools. Those who worry about the physical, emotional, and intellectual development of children know that children should have more than the virtual worlds presented by technology.