The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education
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Anonymous
| My mcps elementary kids are saying they are not using Chromebooks at school this year except for testing. In past years they were not using it as part of the curriculum but were allowed to use it sometimes. For example, the last 30 my minutes of the day. |
Anonymous
No appropriate in a school |
Anonymous
I agree, but I'm guessing the teachers need some time for grading or other things, which I can understand. I haven't heard of screen use in our school as it is being described in this thread. Kids are not learning to read on Chromebooks. |
Anonymous
| I think the education responsibility falls more on teachers in middle school and high school, but learning how to read is the parents responsibility. It's the parents job to get the kids to a point where they can learn. Then the schools can teach topics like mathematics and the sciences. Elementary school education is really the parents responsibility. |
Anonymous
My kid definitely played games on the Chromebook in kindergarten under the guise of literacy. |
Anonymous
That's ridiculous. I'm a child of educated immigrants who spoke limited English. They did not teach me to read. School did. Most kids do not learn just by being read to. They need explicit instruction in reading by someone trained to deliver it. |
Anonymous
I am all for improving working conditions for teachers, but this notion that it's understandable for teachers to stick kids on screens so they can get other things done is appalling. No, that's not okay. |
Anonymous
I'm on your side here but teachers were using screens for this purpose when I was a kid in the 90s. Endless episodes of Bill Nye, Magic School Bus etc. for no reason other than to get a moment of peace. I remember watching a Disney movie every Friday! |
Anonymous
Kids can watch porn in school on internet connected devices. I would much rather they wheel in a TV and show a movie. |
Anonymous
DP but one reason I think books and pencil and paper are superior is that studies have shown that the physical act of writing things down longhand helps commit them to memory. This makes sense to me, as I've long used longhand note taking to help synthesize information, even though I obviously used computers in all kinds of useful ways. Typing notes and information out on a computer could also help students commit the information to memory, in not quite as well, but that's largely not what EdTech has students doing. It mostly has them answering multiple choice questions via a touch screen in an app. This is the worst possible situation because even when the student learns material this way, they are not engaging with it in any way other than reading it on the screen. This is especially bad for things like vocabulary and foundational math (or any math), where it's very important for students to internalize the material so they can build off of it in the future. Earlier tonight, my DC asked me what the word "fester" meant. I asked her in what context, since it can have both literal and figurative meanings. She went and grabbed the book she had been reading that used the word, and was able to flip quickly to the page with the word because she remember the the physical location of the word on the page, in addition to remembering the part of the story it was in. She read the sentence to me and then we talked about what it meant in that context and also how else it can be used. The next best thing for her to do would be to physically write a sentence or some notes about the word, in the margins of the book or in a notebook. This is how deep linguist knowledge is built. Compare this to how a student might engage with that word in a reading comprehension app. They will read the passage on the screen containing the word. Later they will be asked to select one of several meanings for the word from a multiple choice list, and the app will provide the sentence where the word was used in the question (since there is not a good way for the student to page back through the app to find it themselves). Many students will answer the question correctly using context cues. Others may get it wrong and the app will let them know what the correct answer is. But this experience is not deeply engaging and a relatively smart student could complete the exercise correctly without ever really understanding the word, and is unlikely to pull it up from memory later. That is the difference between EdTech and using books and pencils and paper. One checks a box and the other actually engaged students with the material. One is better than the other, and it's very obvious which one that is. |
Anonymous
That is what ESL is for. If you read with your kids, most kids can read Green Eggs and Ham before kindergarten. |
Anonymous
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“ Compare this to how a student might engage with that word in a reading comprehension app. They will read the passage on the screen containing the word. Later they will be asked to select one of several meanings for the word from a multiple choice list, and the app will provide the sentence where the word was used in the question (since there is not a good way for the student to page back through the app to find it themselves). Many students will answer the question correctly using context cues. Others may get it wrong and the app will let them know what the correct answer is. But this experience is not deeply engaging and a relatively smart student could complete the exercise correctly without ever really understanding the word, and is unlikely to pull it up from memory later.”
This is from 00.47 post. I’d rather read books too but I remember running into words that I’d never seen before and just kept reading. When my middle school daughter is reading something and a word pops up that she doesn’t know, she clicks the word and the definition comes up. I wish I had that in school. Also her ability to have 6 screens open and flip around to the one needed so quickly was impressive. Especially since they took away the touch screen thanks to the gamers. A study showing pencil and paper were superior did not take into account the many students who can’t write fast enough to take notes or cannot work fast enough with pencil and paper. Using computers to do certain tasks are helping a lot of students. One question, what are your students doing multiple choice on? I’ve never seen multiple choice being used. They ask questions and require 3-4 sentences for an answer. |
Anonymous
Some kids memorize it. When my son was four I’m pretty certain he had some books memorized. |
Anonymous
Middle school is different. By middle school, kids can type and technology use can be more interactive. We're talking about elementary and learning foundational skills. The studies on learning and retention mostly focused on math, where you aren't writing out sentences. For math, paper and pencil is MUCH better for material retention. It's not about note taking or speed, it's about actually working the problems out. You need pencil and paper for that. Also in elementary school, apps will almost always be multiple choice. The EdTech isn't asking 3rd graders to write multiple sentence responses to anything into an app. This is one of the problems with reliance on apps. |
Anonymous
False |