[WSIS Edu] German study on computers and education

[Bill McIver]

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




		
	The Christian Science Monitor - csmonitor.com 
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from the December 06, 2004 edition - 
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1206/p11s01-legn.html


    Contrarian finding: Computers are a drag on learning

*By G. Jeffrey MacDonald* | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

For all the schools and parents who have together invested billions to 
give children a learning edge through the latest computer technology, a 
mammoth new study by German researchers brings some sobering news: Too 
much exposure to computers might spell trouble for the developing mind.

 From a sample of 175,000 15-year-old students in 31 countries, 
researchers at the University of Munich announced in November that 
performance in math and reading had suffered significantly among 
students who have more than one computer at home. And while students 
seemed to benefit from limited use of computers at school, those who 
used them several times per week at school saw their academic 
performance decline significantly as well.

"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."

With the rise of computers in classrooms, has come a glut of conflicting 
conclusions about the actual value computers bring to timeless tasks of 
teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. For some in education, these 
results indicate how thoroughly this field of research has come to 
resemble that of the conventional wisdom about weight loss, which seems 
to shift with the tide. Yet others see hopeful signs of a maturing 
debate, where blind faith in the educational benefits of technology is 
giving way to greater appreciation for an understanding when computers 
are useful and when they're not.

"You could argue that's the big issue here: People need guidance in how 
to use [computers in education]," says Dr. Marcia Linn, professor of 
education and director of the Technology Enhanced Learning in Science 
Center at the University of California at Berkeley.

In surveying the gamut of research for his 2003 book "The Flickering 
Mind" (Random House), journalist Todd Oppenheimer [*Editor's note:* /The 
original version misstated Oppenheimer's first name./] found most 
studies have overstated either the benefits or the drawbacks computers 
pose in education. The most thorough studies have found computers to 
have little effect either way, he said, although some guiding principles 
are beginning to emerge.

Computer technology "is used too much and very unwisely in the younger 
years, and not wisely enough in the older years," says Oppenheimer. For 
15-year-olds, he says, "you'd be foolish not to use the [World Wide] 
Web" for a research project, but only alongside conventional 
information-gathering techniques. The big picture goal: help students 
use high-quality sources.

Against this backdrop, the German study stands out on account of two 
features: its unusually broad, international sample and its bid to 
isolate computers as a performance-shaping factor.

Mindful that computers are more common among affluent families, whose 
children often outperform more disadvantaged ones, the University of 
Munich researchers controlled for such variables as parents' education 
and working status.

When those were removed from the equation, having more than one computer 
at home was no longer associated with top academic performance. In fact, 
the study says, "The mere availability of computers at home seems to 
distract students from learning." Computers seem to serve mainly as 
devices for playing games.

Still, there were a few exceptions: Academic performance rose among 
those who routinely engaged in writing e-mail or running educational 
software.

To hear new questions raised about the educational value of technology 
is music to the ears at the Waldorf schools, an association of 350 
schools where students don't touch computers until the 11th grade. There 
the priority lies with training students to think, says Patrice Maynard, 
leader for outreach and development, because problem-solving acumen and 
creativity lead to success and a joyful life.

Yet for educators in Maine, computers represent something far more 
promising. There they seem to hold the key to the type of skills 
employers want to see as the state says goodbye to textiles and other 
antiquated industries. Maine taxpayers are investing $37 million over 
four years to put laptop computers into the hands of every seventh- and 
eighth-grader, as well as their 3,000 teachers.

As the debate continues, consensus holds that more research is needed to 
know exactly where computers make the most difference in an educational 
process. "There's this sort of bizarre belief that computers cast a 
spell over students and teachers and schools," says Christopher Dede, 
professor of learning technologies at the Harvard School of Education. 
"Can you imagine what would happen if you had the same in business, 
asking if computers were interfering with performance? It would be a big 
joke."

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Bill McIver, Ph.D                     
==
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