The April 7th edition of Education Week ran an article about the use of library computers. The study was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It was conducted at the University of Washington’s information school and was designed to discern the demographics of library use as well as what library technology is being used for.
This study was featured in Education Week, because the 77 million people in the United States using library computers are not only searching for jobs, communicating with friends, or banking. They are doing homework. Young people are the biggest users regardless of demographic groups. “Nearly half the nation’s 14 to 18 year-olds—about 11.8 million people—reported having used a library computer last year, and a quarter of teenagers used a library computer at least once a week” (“Education Week”,2010, p.10).
Families living below the poverty line—families of four with a household income of $22,000 or less—continue to log the highest use, yet the study revealed that use is widespread among demographic groups. Researchers used random national telephone surveys, in person interviews, and online surveys to gather data. The study “confirms what public libraries have been saying as they compete for public dollars to expand their services and high-speed Internet access: Library use by the general public is widespread and not just among poor people” (“Education Week”,2010, p. 10).
Education Week: American Education’s Newspaper of Record (April 7th ed.).(2010). Bethesda, MD: Editorial Projects in Education Inc.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
All Good Things in Moderation
In his article “Take Back the Afternoon: Preserving the Landscape of Childhood In Spite of Computers,” David Sobel argues for moderation in our approach to the use of technology in the classroom. He notes that when children are on computers they are not doing something else, and lists some of the advantages and disadvantages of computer time as a way of pointing out a need for a more balanced use of computers in children’s lives.
Excessive use of computers can inhibit social interaction. Sitting in a static position passively receiving digital images prevents children from participating in neighborhood games outside where they are engaging gross motor and fine motor skills, social skills, imaginative play, and exploration of the natural world. According to Sobel (2004), “It is in this engagement between the limbs of the body and the bones of the earth where true balance and centeredness emerge.” In other words, interacting with ones environment helps instill a relationship to the natural world that cannot be felt or experienced in the interaction with a computer. Computers invite children to stay in their heads, reinforcing the sense of mind-as-computer, rather than experiencing oneself as a living organism.
On the other hand children enjoy the “interactivity and dynamic immediacy of good software” (Sobel, 2004). Sobel notes that there is software that encourages the development of higher thinking skills. Additionally computers provide educational opportunities that would not be available otherwise. For example, students can sit and be passive recipients of a geology lesson, or they can chat with students of another country in real time.
Moderation is Sobel’s answer. He feels that computers should follow good instruction rather than lead. He believes place based education is the solution to many of the classroom problems teachers face, not computers, but that computers should assist in this. Students need to experience the application of skills being taught. Their lessons need to be grounded in interactions with their communities. “The sophisticated processes of critical thinking, problem-solving and kinesthetic coordination appropriately mature out of children's interaction with concrete materials, caring adults and thoughtfully managed groups of peers” (Sobel, 2004). Computers can assist them with this. As an example Sobel describes the efforts of a 4th grade class in San Anselmo, California to protect an endangered species. In order to initiate a campaign to save the freshwater shrimp in their area, students used computers to create newsletters as well as to research habitat restoration. Computers became a classroom tool rather than a form of instruction.
Sobel, D. (2004). Take Back the Afternoon: Preserving the Landscape of Childhood In Spite of Computers. New Horizons for Learning. Retrieved from http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/technology/sobel.htm
Excessive use of computers can inhibit social interaction. Sitting in a static position passively receiving digital images prevents children from participating in neighborhood games outside where they are engaging gross motor and fine motor skills, social skills, imaginative play, and exploration of the natural world. According to Sobel (2004), “It is in this engagement between the limbs of the body and the bones of the earth where true balance and centeredness emerge.” In other words, interacting with ones environment helps instill a relationship to the natural world that cannot be felt or experienced in the interaction with a computer. Computers invite children to stay in their heads, reinforcing the sense of mind-as-computer, rather than experiencing oneself as a living organism.
On the other hand children enjoy the “interactivity and dynamic immediacy of good software” (Sobel, 2004). Sobel notes that there is software that encourages the development of higher thinking skills. Additionally computers provide educational opportunities that would not be available otherwise. For example, students can sit and be passive recipients of a geology lesson, or they can chat with students of another country in real time.
Moderation is Sobel’s answer. He feels that computers should follow good instruction rather than lead. He believes place based education is the solution to many of the classroom problems teachers face, not computers, but that computers should assist in this. Students need to experience the application of skills being taught. Their lessons need to be grounded in interactions with their communities. “The sophisticated processes of critical thinking, problem-solving and kinesthetic coordination appropriately mature out of children's interaction with concrete materials, caring adults and thoughtfully managed groups of peers” (Sobel, 2004). Computers can assist them with this. As an example Sobel describes the efforts of a 4th grade class in San Anselmo, California to protect an endangered species. In order to initiate a campaign to save the freshwater shrimp in their area, students used computers to create newsletters as well as to research habitat restoration. Computers became a classroom tool rather than a form of instruction.
Sobel, D. (2004). Take Back the Afternoon: Preserving the Landscape of Childhood In Spite of Computers. New Horizons for Learning. Retrieved from http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/technology/sobel.htm
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