Sydney Morning Herald – January 10, 2006:
INTERACTIVE computers used in British schools to teach children to read are harming their learning, research shows.
Specially designed software is increasingly replacing traditional teaching in the classroom as part of the Government’s £1.7 million ($4 million) push to integrate computers into all lessons.
Parents have also bought into the enthusiasm for technology, spending millions on educational computer games for their young.
However, research published in the journal Education 3 to 13 has found that pupils who use interactive programs cannot remember stories they have just read because they are distracted by cartoons and sound effects.
Describing some software as “more entertainment than education”, the researchers have warned teachers and parents not to abandon simple storytelling and reading books to young children.
The best edutainment title I’ve ever played is Mario Teaches Typing on my old old Mac (hopefully happily resurrected as some soda bottles by now).
I highly recommend reading “High tech heretic: Why Computers Don’t Belong in the Classroom and Other Reflections by a Computer Contrarian”
It’s a great book! It really makes you think about technology it’s effects on the learning process.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385489757/104-3392580-2683953?v=glance&n=283155
This points to the same reaon why many believe that over exposure to television shows and games is contributing to so-called attention deficit problems in children.
“… [Parents] spending millions on educational computer games for their young…”
– why? wasnt the last GTA game educational enough? Inner-city English children are fated to have menial jobs and they are fated to live in a ghettofied megalopolis, all they really need to know is how to speak mongoloid ebonics and whether or not they are getting the respect they “deserve”.
College credit for Everquest?
This strictly anecdotal.
My six yr old has had her own computer since she was 18 months old. She progress through many different titles and skill levels. The programs introduced her to basic arithmetic and problem solving and provided the springboard for us to expand upon. Today she is quite at home with adding and subtracting. I am blown away at her problem solving skill. We still do most of her reading with dead trees.
I firmly believe that she has been helped by the computer. Her biggest complaint is during computer class at school. She knows more then her classmates and has to slow down.
Darn it I am proud of my kid. Did I mention she is an A+ student?