Educational technology (EdTech), such as tablets and computers, appears to impair rather than benefit learning. Although EdTech has the capacity to enhance critical thinking skills, it can also negatively affect attention spans and lower retention if misused. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH): “The increasing ubiquity of digital devices in childhood has outpaced the understanding of their effects on cognitive development.” Reliance on tablets or computers for learning has been a frequent theme of my previous blogs.
Recently, Dr. Horvath, a neuroscientist and educator, presented testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation about the cognitive development of children. His analysis provides an alarming picture. “Over the past two decades, the cognitive development of children across much of the developed world has stalled and, in many domains, reversed. Literacy, numeracy, attention, and higher-order reasoning have declined.” He attributes this decline to “the rapid and largely unregulated expansion of educational technology.”
He cites data from international exams like PISA and PIRLS and meta-analyses to estimate the overall impact. Classrooms underwent a rapid digital transformation, exacerbated by school closures during the pandemic. According to his testimony:
Over half of our children now use a computer at school for one to four hours each day, and a full quarter spend more than four hours on screens during a typical seven-hour school day . Unfortunately, studies suggest that less than half of this time is spent actually learning, with students off-task for up to 38 minutes of every hour when on classroom devices.
The education system must eschew the indiscriminate use of educational technology, which can be detrimental to our students. In addition, teacher training must include sound pedagogical instructional techniques and an understanding of critical thinking skills.
Laura Maniglia