Saw this last week, and couldn't resist throwing in my 2p:<br><br><a href="http://www.noe-kaleidoscope.org/people/yish/blog/start-0_-2007-05-08_read-87">http://www.noe-kaleidoscope.org/people/yish/blog/start-0_-2007-05-08_read-87
</a><br><h3><a href="http://www.noe-kaleidoscope.org/people/yish/blog/start-0_-2007-05-08_read-87" title="read message">Stop press: Shlepping a chunk of plastic and wires does not improve your grades.</a>
</h3>
Winnie Hu from the NYT writes about <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/education/04laptop.html" target="_blank">schools ditching their laptop programmes for lack of results</a> . A must read.<br>
<blockquote>
When the school tightened its network security, a 10th grader not only
found a way around it but also posted step-by-step instructions on the
Web for others to follow (which they did).<br>
</blockquote>
Wow. Talk about problem solving. Collaborative learning. These kids are
obviously learning something. Well, the school, and the reporter, where
not that impressed<br>
<blockquote>
Yet school officials here and in several other places said laptops had
been abused by students, did not fit into lesson plans, and showed
little, if any, measurable effect on grades and test scores at a time
of increased pressure to meet state standards.<br>
</blockquote>
That is surprising, given the reports from Maine<br>
<blockquote>
Attendance is up. Detentions are down. Just six months after Maine
began a controversial program to provide laptop computers to every
seventh grader in the state, educators are impressed by how quickly
students and teachers have adapted to laptop technology."<br>
</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/05/nyregion/05LAPT.html?ex=1179268008&ei=1&en=469140e27abd5a63" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/05/nyregion/05LAPT.html?ex=1179268008&ei=1&en=469140e27abd5a63
</a><br>
<br>
<blockquote>
"You hear kids say: I feel smarter now", "some say it has transformed the relationships between students and teachers"<br>
</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4660781" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" target="_blank">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4660781</a><br>
<br>
<br>
The answer is at the end of the article. A teacher is quoted:<br>
<blockquote>
"Let's face it, math is
for the most part still a paper-and-pencil activity when you're
learning it," she said.<br>
</blockquote>
In the early 19C schools in America and Europe <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/teachingmath/" target="_blank">introduced slates and number frames</a>
as means for maths instruction. Until then, the standard method was - a
teacher reading out of a text book, and students chanting after. Exams
were oral, and students were expected to recite textbook proofs down to
variable names. I can see the Winnie Hu of the day quoting a teacher:<br>
<blockquote>
"Let's face it, learning maths is still for the most part repeating after the teacher. A slate just gets in the way."<br>
</blockquote>
<br><br>___________________________<br> Yishay Mor, Researcher, London Knowledge Lab<br> <a href="http://www.lkl.ac.uk/people/mor.html">http://www.lkl.ac.uk/people/mor.html</a><br> <a href="http://yishaym.wordpress.com">
http://yishaym.wordpress.com</a><br> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/yishaymor">https://www.linkedin.com/in/yishaymor</a><br> <a href="http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=yishaym%40gmail.com">http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=yishaym%40gmail.com
</a><br> +44-20-78378888 x5737