open thinking

The Christian Science Monitor reports a German study which sampled 175,000 15-year-old students in 31 countries. The result? It seems that students that used computers several times per week at school suffered a significant decline in academic performance.

Excerpt: “It seems if you overuse computers and trade them for other [types of] teaching, it actually harms the student,” says lead researcher Ludger Woessmann in a telephone interview from Munich. “At least we should be cautious in stating that increasing [access to] computers in the home and school will improve students’ math and reading performance.”

If anything, the study is another reminder that connectivity alone will not help student achievement, in fact, it may actually harm it. But we are reminded that we need to look at more innovative and pedagogically appropriate uses of technology in the classroom.

Article Link:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1206/p11s01-legn.html

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