From The Free Press. Decades of data show a clear pattern: The more schools digitize, the worse students perform. By Jared Cooney Horvath When people think about excessive technology in schools, their minds usually go to phones. But according to a new book from neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath, we’re overlooking the true culprits: the laptops sitting on students’ desks. In “The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Our Kids’ Learning—and How to Help Them Thrive Again,” Horvath explains why consuming information through screens leads to falling performance, fractured attention, and the slow erosion of rigorous thought. We’re proud to publish an exclusive, adapted … [Read more...]
The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents
From an article at FORTUNE In 2002, Maine became the first state to implement a statewide laptop program to some grade levels. Then-governor Angus King saw the program as a way to put the internet at the fingertips of more children, who would be able to immerse themselves in information. By that fall, the Maine Learning Technology Initiative had distributed 17,000 Apple laptops to seventh graders across 243 middle schools. By 2016, those numbers had multiplied to 66,000 laptops and tablets distributed to Maine students. King’s initial efforts have been mirrored across the country. In 2024, the U.S. spent more than $30 billion putting laptops and tablets in schools. But more than … [Read more...]
How the laptop revolution destroyed public education
A guest editorial published at The Blaze. Click this link to go to the website: https://www.theblaze.com/columns/opinion/how-the-laptop-revolution-destroyed-public-education?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dlvr.it_fb_conservative-review&tpcc=social_fb-post The Chromebook turned class into a constant battle with distraction, and students learned to game the system faster than schools could patch it. A recent Fortune magazine article made waves with a grim admission: After more than $30 billion spent flooding classrooms with laptops and tablets, standardized scores keep sliding. Worse, neuroscientists now link more classroom screen time to lower … [Read more...]
Study finds video games lead to decreased learning interest in boys
Screen time (whether computers, tablets, phones, TV or other sources of broadcast content) has grown and grow. More studies are looking into the subject and some of the findings are concerning. Give this article a read. It appeared in The Washington Times. School-age boys become less interested in learning reading, writing and math the more they play video games, a Canadian study has found. Researchers from the University of Sherbrooke followed 1,631 children in Quebec, including 785 boys, as they played video games daily from ages 7 to 10 in the early 2000s. They found that every additional hour boys spent gaming at age 7 predicted a 2% drop in academic motivation by age 8, a … [Read more...]
Screen vs. Paper: Which One Boosts Reading Comprehension?
Today's article is from Oxford Learning: https://oxfordlearning.com/screen-vs-paper-which-one-boosts-reading-comprehension/ In today’s digital world, reading on screens has become the norm—but is it the best way for students to learn? Neuroscience research suggests that reading comprehension, not just what we read, plays a crucial role in comprehension, retention, and overall academic success. When we swap pages for pixels, we’re changing the way our brains process information. For students, this can make a significant difference in their ability to absorb and retain what they read. The Print Advantage: What Science Says Studies show that reading print books leads to better reading … [Read more...]
Sweden School Tablets vs Books
Sweden has been reconsidering the role of digital tools, such as tablets, in its education system, particularly in response to concerns about declining reading comprehension skills among students. The country has historically been a leader in digital education, with tablets being a common sight in classrooms for over a decade. However, recent policy shifts have emphasized a return to traditional learning methods, such as the use of physical books and handwriting, especially for younger students. In 2022, Sweden’s Minister of Education, Lotta Edholm, expressed alarm over the decline in Swedish children’s reading comprehension skills, as highlighted by the Progress in International Reading … [Read more...]
Children’s Brains Shaped by Their Time on Tech
Today's article comes from the Taylor and Francis Group. Time spent watching television or playing computer games has measurable and long-term effects on children’s brain function, according to a review of 23 years of neuroimaging research, which while showing negative impacts also demonstrates some positive effects. However, the researchers stop short of advocating limits on screen time, which they say can lead to confrontation. Instead, they urge policymakers to help parents navigate the digital world by promoting programs which support positive brain development. The evidence review, published today in the peer-reviewed journal Early Education and Development, is an analysis of … [Read more...]
Reading on a smartphone promotes over activity in the prefrontal cortex and lowers reading comprehension
Today we bring you a new article on the impact of "screen time" on learning. As you will note from some of our previous articles the more time children spend on e-devices (phone, tablet, computer) the less they learn and retain. The report comes to use from PsyPost written by Beth Elwood and titled: Reading on a smartphone promotes over activity in the prefrontal cortex and lowers reading comprehension. The original article can be read at: https://www.psypost.org/2022/04/reading-on-a-smartphone-promotes-overactivity-in-the-prefrontal-cortex-and-lowers-reading-comprehension-study-finds-62848?fbclid=IwAR0yJl0lXkWhsrbdkfUY-M5c5fQL1wkk6cKiDQkxKII09W22bUbMw6zI6EM Here's the article in its … [Read more...]
Big Teacher Is Watching: How AI Spyware Took Over Schools
From an article at Bloomberg written by by Priya Anand and Mark Bergen At Pekin Community High School, the teachers are something close to omniscient. Education, even in-person education, is digital in the Covid-19 era, and staff members use a piece of software to watch everything students do on school-issued laptops and to keep them off banned websites. The kids are aware. “They pretty much know that they’re being monitored 24/7,” says Cynthia Hinderliter, head of technology at the school outside Peoria, Ill. Still, class clowns persist. Hinderliter pulls up a detailed dashboard of student online activity, which reveals the identities of rule breakers. A yellow “EXPLICIT” label … [Read more...]
Deepfake teachers & technology: the future of K-12 public education?
Ready to glimpse the future of K-12 public education? Put your walking shoes on and check your skepticism at the door and enter the looking glass with me... The future of K-12 public education is...Deepfake teachers. First what the heck is "deepfake"? Definition: "an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said" "Deepfake (a portmanteau of "deep learning" and "fake") is a technique for human image synthesis based on artificial intelligence(A.I). It is used to combine and superimpose (Photoshop/Edit) existing images and videos onto source images or videos using a … [Read more...]