How computers make kids dumb

[trojan209]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/21/how_dumb_kids/

A study of 100,000 pupils in 31 countries around the world has concluded that using computers makes kids dumb. Avoiding PCs in the classroom and at home improved the literacy and numeracy of the children studied. The UK's Royal Economic Society finds no ground for the correlation that politicans make between IT use and education.

The authors, Thomas Fuchs and Ludger Woessmann of Munich University, used the PISA tests to measure the skills of 100,000 15 year-olds. When social factors were taken into account, PC literacy was no more valuable than ability to use a telephone or the internet, the study discovered.

"Holding other family characteristics constant, students perform significantly worse if they have computers at home," the authors conclude. By contrast, children with access to 500 books in their homes performed better. The negative correlation, the researchers explain, is because children with computers neglect their homework more.


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it's hard for me to believe this fact. so, what is ur opinion?

[DecentMerson]

digress abit here... i'm not sure whether it makes kids dumber... but, i'm pretty sure that it makes u forgot how to write legibly and fast...

most of my american classmates have really illegible handwriting... and some of them do admit that they have hard time writing...

[trojan209]

for those who oppose the smart schools should be happy now. :lol: :lol: :lol:

[iQing]

talking about smart school

http://www.livejournal.com/users/kiasubookworm/922.html

[gonjeng]

digress abit here... i'm not sure whether it makes kids dumber... but, i'm pretty sure that it makes u forgot how to write legibly and fast...

heh couldnt agree more on this. i, now, hate writing as i kinda dont feel comfortable doing it :)

anyhow, i believe the usage of computers in schools have a balance pros and cons. the pros are capture the interest of the children and hence getting more attention from them, make them aware of the useful usage of the computers (instead of merely for games, internet, chatting) and to some who doesnt have computers at home or never seen one (in the rural areas), it exposes themselves to the technology...

some of the cons are if the presentations used are boring, it will immediately put students to sleep, the learning process doesnt involve as many physical sense (merely your eyes and ears) as not using computers (which includes your hands) - studies say one tend to remember better if more physical sense involves, etc.

hence, i am conlcuding that it all depends on the implementation and the kids themselves. some may be dumber but some may become smarter :)

peace out...

[weich]

i think if the child's not addicted to computer games, it should be ok, some time must be spent on homework, sports, etc.

check this forum thread about the Nintendo DS Brain Training Game:

http://forums.gaming-age.com/showthread.php?t=49249

[Ace_Spade]

yea, should oppose...
i was from a smart school, but guess what...
school: smart
student: not smart
school fees: RMxxxxx per year[or more] !!

[chiunlin]

I'm totally against the use of computers in school. I did a research on this subject at the second semester of INTEC. And I actually posted this topic at recom(slightly different naming)

Technology in education (http://www.recom.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=530)

The most interesting piece of article that I found is the following
Alliance for Childhood- Computers and Children (http://allianceforchildhood.org/projects/computers/computers_reports.htm)

Here's a summary of the main points presented:
i) Using computers for long hours cause severe musculoskeletal injuries, vision problems and it also contributes to obesity and lack of exercise.

ii)Computer usage hampers a student's creativity.

iii)Computer's versatility causes concerntration problems aming students.

iv) Instant feedback does not encourage deep thinking, and student loses patience to work out complex or challenging problems.

vi) Computer usage impairs visualization and language skills

vii) Most studies on the benefits of computer usage in classroom are conducted by profit-driven technology companies.
(Please the article for the full explanation of each point)

Finally, it is noted that the money used could have been better allocated for improving the teachers' salaries, or training more well-qualified teachers.

[__earth]

One important point:
The negative correlation, the researchers explain, is because children with computers neglect their homework more.

The use of computer does not make kids dumb. I think most ppl in this thread are making the wrong conclusion from a misunderstood premise.

Read the original RES's report at http://www.res.org.uk/econometrics/fuchs-woessmann.doc. From that link, there is another link directed to a complete study report. Notice that:

It appears that computers at home are not exactly used for running educational software, mining the internet for useful data or composing better homework assignments, all things that would have a positive impact on performance, but rather for playing games, chatting and otherwise providing entertainment. Computers thus displace other activities more conducive to learning.

At school, the picture is a bit different, but the result isn't. Taking account of the availability of other resources at school, the mere availability of computers does not translate into higher student performance, at least not beyond a certain frequency of use. This gives rise to a curiously inverted-U-shaped curve for performance against frequency of computer use:

? Little computer use, poor performance.
? Moderate computer use, higher performance.
? Frequent computer use, poor performance.

At any rate, the trick seems to be what you do with the computer, not its mere availability. Email use, website accessibility and educational software have all something going for them, both at home and school.