The Scarsdale Inquirer – Hometown newspaper of Scarsdale, New York 10583

November 18, 2011

Opinion

The down side of technology in school

By JENNIFER LEAVITT-WIPF

That recent front page story in the Sunday New York Times sure caused a stir. October 22’s “A Silicon Valley School That Does Not Compute,” revealed that top tier techies from Yahoo, Google, Hewlett Packard and Apple send their children to a Waldorf School, where technology is intentionally absent from the classroom before ninth grade, and is even discouraged at home.

“Hypocrisy” cried one commenter, while another countered “Did Henry Ford expect his son to drive a car at the age of 6?”

At a time when teachers are fearing for their jobs, and educational programs are losing funding, is it wise for schools across America to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on classroom technology?

Supporters claim that children will not be prepared for our high-tech world if technology is not taught in primary grades. Computers also fill in the gaps that teachers cannot, they say, reviewing lessons with children when they need extra help, quizzing them in preparation for standardized tests, even interacting with them in a foreign language.

It all sounds so wonderfully cutting edge, and yet, a small but growing group of parents and educators are questioning whether technology in the classroom is helpful, or harmful.

Despite anecdotal evidence, the numbers don’t support the educational benefits of technology. A 2009 federal study on 10 major software products for teaching algebra, elementary and middle school math and reading found that nine of them, including the most well-respected brands, “did not have statistically significant effects on test scores” in the 132 schools participating. The study, ordered by Congress, cost $15 million to conduct.

At the same time, studies do tell us that children who study the arts — from music and drama to painting and handwork — are better socially adapted, rank higher on standardized tests, and are even more likely to get into medical school (Phi Delta Kappan, February 1994). Other research shows that physical activity aids cognition. Yet movement and the arts continue to take a backseat to almost every other discipline when it comes time to plan (and pare) school curriculums.

A Stanford University study found that young people who participated in the arts program at least nine hours per week for a year or more were four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement or to participate in a math and science fair, and three times more likely to be elected to class office or win an award for school attendance.

According to Johns Hopkins School of Education, the College Entrance Examination Board announced that “Students who studied arts and music scored significantly higher than the national average on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.” In addition, “Students who had participated in acting, play production, music performance and appreciation, drama appreciation, and art history, scored an average of 31 to 50 points higher for the math and verbal sections.” And, “Students with long-term arts study (four years or more) tend to score significantly higher on the SAT than those with less coursework in the arts."

Several studies show that fine motor activity — sculpting, knitting and other handwork — increases gray matter in the brain and staves off dementia. Similarly, having to locate a book on a library shelf, or solve a problem that entails physical elements, can have the same effect. According to researchers at Brown University, this happens because mind-body interaction stimulates brain cells to grow and connect with each other in complex ways. They do so by extending branches of intricate nerve fibers called dendrites — the antennas through which neurons receive communication from each other.

While real life involves an infinite variety of physical and mental challenges and solutions, most problems on a digital device are ultimately solved by the push of a button. Excessive time spent online is giving us what researcher David Levy calls "popcorn brain" — a brain “so accustomed to the constant stimulation of electronic multitasking that we're unfit for life offline, where things pop at a much slower pace.” We are learning to expect instant gratification at all times.

Clifford Nass, a social psychologist at Stanford, cites studies showing that multitasking on the computer can even make people forget how to read human emotions. That doesn’t bode well for our future.

Then there are the researchers in China who discovered through MRI imaging of college students that, over time, and with enough computer usage, the structure of our brains can actually change, resulting in a decrease in gray matter.

And dumbing down is not exclusive to students. Author Nicholas Carr says that since he’s been using the Internet, he is not thinking the way he used to. “I can feel it most strongly when I’m reading,” he writes. “Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy. My mind would get caught up in the narrative or the turns of the argument, and I’d spend hours strolling through long stretches of prose. That’s rarely the case anymore. Now my concentration often starts to drift after two or three pages. I get fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking for something else to do,” he wrote in The Atlantic.

Both colleges and corporations are seeing this same "creativity crisis," referenced in a 2010 Newsweek article, where this generation of students and workers is less able to perform tasks without explicit instructions, manage projects requiring sustained attention and exhibit critical thinking skills.

Statistics also tell us that the incidence of learning disabilities and barriers is going up. Children are having more trouble with socialization, empathy, hand-eye coordination, focus, attention span, problem solving and sensory integration than ever before.

Of course, most students are not only using technology exclusively at school. The adults in their lives are allowing them to trade traditional childhood games and activities at home for screen and button pushing time.

As Alan Eagle of Google’s executive communications says in The New York Times article, “We make technology as brain-dead easy to use as possible.”

Is that really what we want for our children?

Read more local coverage of your hometown in this week’s issue of The Scarsdale Inquirer. Newsstand copies are available at several locations listed above, or subscribe today for convenient home delivery.

HOME | SUBSCRIBE | ADVERTISE | NEWSROOM | CONTACT

The Scarsdale Inquirer • P.O. Box 418, 14 Harwood Court, Scarsdale, NY 10583 • (914) 725-2500 Fax (914) 725-1552 • www.scarsdalenews.com

Jump to: THE RIVERTOWNS ENTERPRISE or THE RECORD-REVIEW

> SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

HOME | SUBSCRIBE | ADVERTISE | NEWSROOM | CONTACT

The Scarsdale Inquirer is delivered to subscribers’ mailboxes every Friday for only $37 per year. Click here to subscribe or to purchase a gift subscription.

Advertise

•View our Media Kit for deadlines, specs and circulation information.
•Special Sections
•Contact your Ad Representative,
Thomas O’Halloran or
Barbara Yeaker

Take part

Submit story ideas, wedding and birth announcements, obituaries, press releases, letters to the editor, and photos.

Followers & fans