There have been new studies recently showing significant results that schools that take away cellphones or at least ban them during school hours see clear improvements in their test scores according to a study from the London School of Economics. The study found that the taking away of cellphones had the same positive impact on the students as an additional hour of school per week or increasing the school year by 5 days. Following the ban, test scores increased by 6.4% and even better for underachieving students where the improvement was 14%. The conclusion was that underachieving students are more likely to be distracted by cellphones. Although, with parents feeling the need to reach their kids at all times of the day, banning cellphones could be an extremely explosive topic. However, many believe that the temptation to play games, text, or go on social media are too high of risk to take just so that the parents can be at ease. One big plus side to this would be the potential to close education achievement gap between underprivileged students, those of different ethnicities, and the underachieving students as well. What do you think? Do you believe that cellphones truly have this big of an effect on the grades and test scores of students? Is there another side to this argument?
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Interesting statistics Ryan. While I don't doubt that cell phones lead to a decrease in productivity and learning, they are part of the modern world. Schools are meant to teach students both academic and social knowledge, and dealing with cellphones and other distractors is part of that. Schools must teach kids how to stay focused and prevent constantly checking Facebook or Twitter, but an outright ban won't help the students in the future when there is no one to take away their phones.
ReplyDeleteI was apart of the Cloud Presentation to parents in the Theater a few months ago, and the concerns of the parents were actually quite interesting. A lot of them were very concerned about the addiction to screens, distracting students from interacting with parents more than the screens distracting from learning. The only possible problem I saw with a higher emphasis on using technology, with the invention of smartphones and the BYOD implementation, was that they could be distractions in the learning environment, like you brought up Ryan. However, because we grew up in a culture where we are always on our phones, laptops, etc., we have different interactions with people on a day to day basis than was normal prior to these inventions. While cell phones could be distracting in the school environment, they also could be hindering our social interactions. I can see the parents' perspective, and I think it is an interesting point to bring up. However, like Andreas said I think it is important that we learn to balance interactions with the virtual world and the real one.
ReplyDeleteI did my English speech on a very similar topic, where I argued that we should not use computers in school. I do think that having excessive technology in school would be a detraction from the learning experience, and banning cell phone use would not only improve productivity, but make a mentality for the students that school is a place where you should be completely dedicated to learning without distractions. By being lax in this area we detract from the academic focus that school should have.
ReplyDeleteI did my English speech on a very similar topic, where I argued that we should not use computers in school. I do think that having excessive technology in school would be a detraction from the learning experience, and banning cell phone use would not only improve productivity, but make a mentality for the students that school is a place where you should be completely dedicated to learning without distractions. By being lax in this area we detract from the academic focus that school should have.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post, Ryan! I, like Nathan, also did my English speech on technology in schools, but I argued that we should be able to use them. I did research on one teacher who originally had a lot of problems with devices because her students would keep getting distracted, and she wanted to end the technology in her classroom. But instead of an outright ban, she decided to implement specific rules about when and how they could use them (for music during work time, for example, but not during a lesson). It turns out that her classroom actually became a lot more productive after that! While all classrooms may not work the same, sometimes rules governing a specific practice are much better than an outright ban on the practice altogether.
ReplyDeleteI agree that cellphones do lower students' overall grades in school, but I think the main issue with the cellphones arise at home rather than in the school. Most learning happens at home, with all the homework, test study, etc. With cellphones and electronics being so readily available at home, they serve as great time wasters, taking away from study time, and perhaps turning in a homework assignment on time. Was the 14% increase really due completely to phones? I am not sure of that, but maybe it allowed students to focus more on reality rather than the "phone world," consisting of social media, games, and various notifications. This could have led them to using electronics less at home, therefore improving their scores.
ReplyDeleteI agree that cellphones do lower students' overall grades in school, but I think the main issue with the cellphones arise at home rather than in the school. Most learning happens at home, with all the homework, test study, etc. With cellphones and electronics being so readily available at home, they serve as great time wasters, taking away from study time, and perhaps turning in a homework assignment on time. Was the 14% increase really due completely to phones? I am not sure of that, but maybe it allowed students to focus more on reality rather than the "phone world," consisting of social media, games, and various notifications. This could have led them to using electronics less at home, therefore improving their scores.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Ryan! Like the study said I do believe that taking away phones would improve test scores drastically. However, like we have been talking about in class with stress, the best way is not to attempt to get away from phones and technology but rather to learn how to deal with it. There is no way in modern society to go about living healthily without technology so the only option is to learn how to manage it. So even if administration had the best interests in heart, taking phones away would only make the problem worse when we left for college.
ReplyDeleteLike others have said, I'm sure that not allowing phones in class is probably good for preventing distraction. However, I use my phone for school work in many classes, and there are times where I am on my phone because I feel that I do not need to pay attention, and if I were not on my phone, I would probably be more of a distraction to the students around me.
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