No Grade Yet for Tech as Teaching Tool
Last fall, the advocacy group Alliance for Childhood called for a moratorium on computers in early elementary school classrooms, citing a range of health hazards that included “repetitive stress injuries, eyestrain, obesity, social isolation, and for some, long-term physical, emotional, or intellectual development damage.”
Although some of the points in “Fool’s Gold: a Critical Look at Computers in Childhood” are valid--such as concerns about student safety on the Web--it’s pretty clear that the alliance doesn’t understand the powerful ways technology is helping kids learn.
The report conjures a dark and disturbing science-fiction-like tableau of sterile classrooms where sedentary, corpulent first-graders with stress injuries stare at computers in isolated workstations. Frivolous and confusing content delivered via a disembodied machine has replaced the hands-on learning and warmth of human interaction we remember so fondly from our own school experiences. Please. How about spending a little time in a real classroom?
A few truths about what’s actually happening in schools:
* Computers and the Internet are tools in a collection of many that teachers and students can use. Educators trained in the uses of technology know how to integrate it into their curricula. Class activities are generally designed to fit 20-minute time slots, even for older kids, so it’s unlikely that youngsters would be in front of computers long enough to develop eyestrain or stress injuries.
* And obesity? Yes, we’ve seen how TV can dissuade kids from exercising. If coupled with too much junk food, the tube can be particularly unhealthy. Computers, like TV, should be just one of a child’s entertainment options.
* The “Fool’s Gold” report stresses that kids need time to be “out in nature.” Ironically, this is something the newest technologies make more possible than ever. Youngsters gain extra outdoor play time when homework research is done instantaneously on the Internet instead of at the library. “Any time, anywhere” learning options move kids out of classrooms and into the world. For instance, with laptop or hand-held computers, science classes can go out into the field and input data on the spot.
* That computers detract from necessary adult-child interaction is another claim of the report. Yet, as a parent, I find that when my kids complete their homework more quickly, we spend more time talking or doing things together. If my young daughters need to use the Internet, we make a family activity out of it. And as a former teacher, I can say that educators are no more likely to substitute computer tasks than math drills or any other activity for the human interaction at the core of nurturing students.
The report also criticizes the amount of money spent on technology without proof of its actual impact on learning.
Assessing technology’s impact on learning is a priority at both local and federal levels these days. School districts are grappling with the problem of developing good, accurate instruments to measure the benefits--and drawbacks--of technology in the classroom.
Problems include the unevenness of teacher training from one district, school or even classroom to another. While Teacher A might be smoothly integrating graphing software into her math lesson, Teacher B might have never even booted up the computer.
It is important to remember that the use of computers and the Internet in education is still new. It is a true challenge to accurately measure the impact of a technology that has been in many classrooms for only a couple of years.
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Susan McLester is editor of Technology & Learning magazine.
