{"id":260,"date":"2010-01-15T17:01:26","date_gmt":"2010-01-16T01:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/?p=260"},"modified":"2010-01-15T17:05:11","modified_gmt":"2010-01-16T01:05:11","slug":"computers-make-kids-smarter-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/2010\/01\/15\/computers-make-kids-smarter-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Computers Make Kids Smarter – Right?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The title of this post is taken from an almost 12-year old\u00a0 paper by Heather Kirkpatrick and Larry Cuban [1]. In this paper the authors asserted that the common sense wisdom that computers make kids smarter\u00a0 was unwarranted. Based on the paper, in 1998 there was no sufficient reliable empirical evidence to claim that investing significant resources in computerizing school was worth it. The authors raised very important questions in the paper:<\/p>\n

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  1. What do we want to use computers for in our classrooms? Do we want to use computers to help students master basic skills and acquire factual knowledge? To raise test scores? As tools to create student-centered teaching and learning? To make our children more computer literate? And which software programs are best for English, math, and other subjects in the curricula of individual schools?<\/li>\n
  2. Can we reach our goals at less cost\u2014without additional investments in technology?<\/li>\n
  3. Will computers help create the type of students and citizens we seek?<\/li>\n
  4. Through what means can we achieve our desired ends? In other words, what configuration of hardware, software, and Internet connections best meets our goals? Labs? Classrooms? Libraries? All of the above?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    As almost 12 years past since then, I keep wondering what would my answers to the questions raised above have been if somebody asked me about it today? During the past 12 years, did we collect sufficient reliable and valid data to provide an evidence-based answer to these questions? Did we design our studies properly so they can provide us with valid and useful information. I also keep thinking if we (educators) are becoming so much “smarter” about how we should teach mathematics and science, why doesn’t it transform into significant improvement in students’ learning? May be it does – our students of today are not the same as the students of 20 years ago and we do not know what the results would have been if we asked the math and science teachers of 20 years ago to teach our current students. We also try to teach different skills and may be place different priorities.\u00a0 As\u00a0 I am trying to grapple with these questions, I keep thinking how interesting and complicated our field is. We are trying to understand how humans learn, how teachers should teach and how technology can facilitate this process. But at the same time both learners, teachers and the technology are changing…\u00a0 As computers are obviously not going to go away and they will keep transforming all aspects of our lives, the question of the use of computers in education is going to disappear.\u00a0 So although this is a very complicated problem, it certainly is worth thinking about.<\/p>\n

    1. Kirkpatrick, H., & Cuban, L. (1998). Computers Make Kids Smarter – Right? Technos Quarterly, 7(2), 26-31.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The title of this post is taken from an almost 12-year old\u00a0 paper by Heather Kirkpatrick and Larry Cuban [1]. In this paper the authors asserted that the common sense wisdom that computers make kids smarter\u00a0 was unwarranted. Based on… Read moreComputers Make Kids Smarter – Right?<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1525,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","content-layout-excerpt-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1525"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":262,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260\/revisions\/262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mmilner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}