Technology and Education

ICT's in EducationThe Chinese Ministry of Education has a reasonably massive push underway to put computers in schools. A recent and interesting study seems to contra-indicate accepted beliefs about the value of such initiatives.An article in the Sunday Telegraph neatly summarizes the Royal Economic Society Study. The study abstract says:"We estimate the relationship between students’ educational achievement and the availability and use of computers at home and at school in the international student-level PISA database. Bivariate analyses show a positive correlation between student achievement and the availability of computers both at home and at schools. However, once we control extensively for family background and school characteristics, the relationship gets negative for home computers and insignificant for school computers. Thus, the mere availability of computers at home seems to distract students from effective learning. But measures of computer use for education and communication at home show a positive conditional relationship with student achievement. The conditional relationship between student achievement and computer and internet use at school has an inverted U-shape, which may reflect either ability bias combined with negative effects of computerized instruction or a low optimal level of computerized instruction."

Comments and faves

"Students today can’t prepare bark to calculate their problems. They depend upon their slates which are more expensive. What will they do when their slate is dropped and it breaks? They will be unable to write.

-Teachers Conference, 1703

"Students today depend upon paper too much. They don’t know how to write on slate without getting chalk dust all over themselves. They can’t clean a slate properly. What will they do when they run out of paper?"

-Principal’s Association, 1815

"Students depend too much on ink. They don’t know how to use a pen knife to sharpen a pencil. Pen and ink will never replace the pencil."

-National Association of Teachers, 1907

"Students today depend upon store bought ink. They don’t know how to make their own. When they run out they will be unable to write words or ciphers until their next trip to the settlement. This is a sad commentary on modern education.

-The Rural Teacher, 1929

"Students today depend upon these expensive fountain pins. They can no longer write with a straight pen and nib (not to mention sharpening their own quills). We parents must not allow them to wallow in such luxury to the detriment of learning how to cope in the real business world, which is not so extravagant."

-PTA Gazette, 1941

New Diamond Deluxe

"Ball point pens will be the ruin of education in our country. Students use these devices and then throw them away. The virtues of thrift and frugality are being discarded. Business and banks will never allow such expensive luxuries."

-The Federal Teacher, 1950

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"Students today depend too much on hand-held calculators."

-Anonymous, 1985

Today we still use pens, pencils and calculators. Now we have computers which make our lives even easier and I’m sure that no matter what changes happen in the future someone will complain about it.

Rights to Pictures• Slide 1 Picture – Peter Morgan• Slide 2 Pictue – Flickr User “Just Us 3” (no real name given)• Slide 3 Picture – Pink Sherbet Photography• Slide 4 Picture – No author attributed. Rights given by GNU Free Documentation License• Slide 5 Picture – Kathleen Conklin• Slide 6 Picture – “Karen” (Flickr User vidalia_11)• Slide 7 Picture – Beth Schroeder• Slide 8 Picture – Beth Schroeder• Slide 9 Picture – Beth Schroeder