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Study: PCs make kids dumber
By Robin Lettice
Published Tuesday 7th December 2004 18:42 GMT
Students who use computers frequently at school perform worse than their peers at maths and reading, a study claims.
Those using computers several times a week performed "sizably and statistically significantly worse" than those who used them less often.
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Thomas Fuchs and Ludger Woessmann of the CESifo economic research organisation in Munich base their conclusions on an analysis of test performance and background data from the 2000 PISA study. This study involved tens of thousands of students in 31 countries, including the UK, organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The OECD pointed to a positive link between students' interest in computers and their literacy, and Fuchs and Woessmann found that the more computers there were in students' homes, the better their test performance.
However, they realised that more computers in a household generally means a more affluent family. Children from affluent homes tend to perform better academically, so Fuchs and Woessmann factored this in their analysis.
Having done this they found that the more computers there were in a student's home, the worse the student's maths performance.
Fuchs and Woessmann found that students performed worse in schools with a significant lack of computers. However, they then took into account that schools with better computer availability also have better resources in general. They found that computer ability was not related to student performance.
They also studied the effects of computer use on test scores, and found that greater use of computers in the home impacted positively on test scores.
In schools the effect was different. Students who hardly ever used computers did a little worse than those who used them between a few times a year and several times a month. But those who used school computers several times a week performed "sizably and statistically significantly worse" in both maths and reading.
The researchers suggest two theories to explain their findings. One is 'ability bias' - that it might be that teachers do not want lower-ability students to use computers.
The other theory proposed is that students who use computers frequently do so at the expense of traditional learning methods.
Dr Tim Rudd, from Becta, the UK government's computer agency, told BBC News, "There is evidence to suggest that ICT can be a very powerful tool for developing literacy skills but that this may vary across ages and in relation to different aspects of literacy.
"In maths however, the evidence appears stronger. In a recent Becta paper analysing available research about primary and secondary teachers' use of ICT in maths, key findings suggest that ICT has changed the nature of teaching and learning.
"A wide range of tools is now available that enables learning to take place in a way that is more dynamic and powerful." ?
By Robin Lettice
Published Tuesday 7th December 2004 18:42 GMT
Students who use computers frequently at school perform worse than their peers at maths and reading, a study claims.
Those using computers several times a week performed "sizably and statistically significantly worse" than those who used them less often.
Click to Visit
Thomas Fuchs and Ludger Woessmann of the CESifo economic research organisation in Munich base their conclusions on an analysis of test performance and background data from the 2000 PISA study. This study involved tens of thousands of students in 31 countries, including the UK, organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The OECD pointed to a positive link between students' interest in computers and their literacy, and Fuchs and Woessmann found that the more computers there were in students' homes, the better their test performance.
However, they realised that more computers in a household generally means a more affluent family. Children from affluent homes tend to perform better academically, so Fuchs and Woessmann factored this in their analysis.
Having done this they found that the more computers there were in a student's home, the worse the student's maths performance.
Fuchs and Woessmann found that students performed worse in schools with a significant lack of computers. However, they then took into account that schools with better computer availability also have better resources in general. They found that computer ability was not related to student performance.
They also studied the effects of computer use on test scores, and found that greater use of computers in the home impacted positively on test scores.
In schools the effect was different. Students who hardly ever used computers did a little worse than those who used them between a few times a year and several times a month. But those who used school computers several times a week performed "sizably and statistically significantly worse" in both maths and reading.
The researchers suggest two theories to explain their findings. One is 'ability bias' - that it might be that teachers do not want lower-ability students to use computers.
The other theory proposed is that students who use computers frequently do so at the expense of traditional learning methods.
Dr Tim Rudd, from Becta, the UK government's computer agency, told BBC News, "There is evidence to suggest that ICT can be a very powerful tool for developing literacy skills but that this may vary across ages and in relation to different aspects of literacy.
"In maths however, the evidence appears stronger. In a recent Becta paper analysing available research about primary and secondary teachers' use of ICT in maths, key findings suggest that ICT has changed the nature of teaching and learning.
"A wide range of tools is now available that enables learning to take place in a way that is more dynamic and powerful." ?
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