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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My kids are much younger, but this will bother me, especially once you hit middle school/high school. How on earth do you take a challenging AP history class without reading a textbook? I read literally my whole AP US history textbook over the course of the year in high school. And what about for reference? What happens when you can't remember all the parts of the cell in bio, do you just google it? How do you study?

Math, I can see, because we really just used ours for the math problems/homework, so if those are online or in handouts, then fine.

[b]I guess I'm also biased because reading is how I learn best. I got a lot more out of the nightly readings than I did from class, just because of my learning style. And it's still how I learn best (I've never been a YouTube learner, though my husband uses it a lot to learn new things, like home repair). But what happens to kids who are that same way?[/b] [/quote]

I think some people may be confusing a lack of a bound physical book with a lack of reading.  My two kids, currently in middle school and high school have done a ton of reading.  It just happens on screens (think Kindle) or in hand outs.  My 11th grader has read multiple novels and AP texts through her computer.

There are a lot of advantages to this.  It can be interactive.  It can be edited in real time to be up to date and address anything that lacks clarity or needed context.

We can talk about whether the electronic nature of the content is somehow less optimal, or bad for the eyes or whatnot.  But reading is still occurring.[/quote]

Maybe it's a coincidence, but the fall of textbooks correspondended to a reduction in assigned reading volume.

And all the crazy apps are much harder to navigate than books. [/quote]

Not trying to be personally judgmental, but the fact that you call them "crazy apps" makes me think that your own difficulty navigating the technology is influencing your opinion that they are contributing to lower quality learning.  And to be clear, I AGREE that the apps are hard for me as a parent.  But as an adult in the workforce, new technology is also hard for me.  Technology adoption/adaption is always going to be hard.  That doesn't mean it is bad.

I'm also curious about your reference to "assigned reading volume."  I'm not doubting you, just wondering what that means?  Is there a study?

I also appreciate the quoted PP who acknowledged their own bias.  Some people learn better through ingesting written text.  That has been the traditional way of learning.  But some people lean better through more visual/graphic methods.  And some people learn better through audio.  (In fact, some young people in my own family are visually impaired, though have some sight.  As a result, a combination of spoken word and larger bolder graphics are the best way to learn.)

A movement towards a more hybrid way of teaching/learning is both more inclusive and more reflective of the world we are sending our kids into.  I embrace it. 
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