Are You Smarter Than A Fourth Grader?: Laptops vs Traditional Style Learning

"Will fourth grade students that participated in a one-to-one laptop program have more successful test scores than those participating in the traditional learning program?”

I want you all to think about that question... Do you think that schools should begin the integrating of technology at such a young age, ( 9 or 10 years old) or enforce the forms of traditional learning? While, I think it is essential for a child to learn how to write his or her own name and work out a math problem; I think that lack of proper technology exposure can make or break a child. Below are the answers to the questions from the article critique along with my personal opinion.

1.    Provide the complete article title and author

The article title for this article is, "Laptops and Fourth-Grade Literacy: Assisting the Jump over the Fourth-Grade Slump". It was written by Mr. Kurt A. Suhr, David A. Hernandez, Douglas Grimes, & Mark Warschauer

2. State the intended audience. (What is empirical research and how does it help the classroom?)         

The intended audience for this article could possibly range from someone as simple as a parent of a fourth grader to the teacher of a fourth grade class to possibly even a Language Arts teacher. After greatly examining the article and its material, I was highly impressed with the number of potential audiences. Even principals of elementary schools would benefit from this article and its research. The empirical research was very evident when reading the article. Empirical research is defined as research based on an observation. An by looking at the research in this article I discovered that school districts were still struggling to see how exactly they could integrate technology into the classroom without waiting to late on in a child's life. Technology is the building block to a successful life and career, so why not expose children to it early on? By exposing younger students to technology (laptop instructional  education planning students stand a much better chance at being both visual and auditory learners.

3. What is/are the research question/questions or hypothesis/hypotheses?

After carefully reading this article I came to the conclusion that the hypotheses question was that of, “Will those fourth grade students that participated in the one-to-one laptop program have more successful test scores than those participating in the traditional learning program?”

4.   Describe the subject (participants) and the procedures (methods) used by the researcher(s)?

 There were 106 fourth grade participants broken down evenly into two groups: treatment group and the control group. Each group was eventually reduced to 54 students each. Both groups were comprised of different classes with a different set of teachers each year. Once the groups and plans were set, the researchers began to focus in on the procedures (methods) of the experiment. The controlled group (laptop) were supplied with personal laptop on a daily bases at school. They were granted varying degrees of computer access. This not only included the personal laptop, but in-class desktop computers, computer labs, and mobile laptop carts. As the students aged, the amount of access increased slightly due to greater availability of mobile carts, and etc. In no class, did students in the control group have regular individual access to computers for more than the standard six hours per week, which was an incredibility different from the computer access for the treatment group. Then studying of the groups went from there.

5.  What were the conclusions of the researchers? Do you agree or disagree with the conclusions? Support your position.

  The conclusion of the researchers was that laptop students outperformed non-laptop student. The   areas that the students did the best in were writing strategies and literary response and analysis. As a promoter of technology in the classroom, I most certainly agree with these conclusions. When it comes down to writing and reading, computers can be one of the greatest tools to help improve these areas. To properly use a computer you must know how to read, and to properly type on a computer you must know how to write.

6.  What suggestions for further research do the authors suggest? What other suggestions for future research would you suggest?

I would suggest that in the future, researchers should maybe prolong this study. Maybe start each group off in the fourth grade and go all the way up until senior year, then study the scoring difference in ACT results. I would also suggest maybe doing this in a public school setting; although the article did not say exactly if the experiment was done in a public or private setting. I just think the environment might make a difference in the results. Because of course; students from higher income families have a better chance of being exposed to technology outside of the classroom. 

After reading this article it got me thinking a lot about one-on-one computing. Both the topics within the article and one-on-one computing tied in so well together. One-on-one computing is considered to be allocating a school computer for each student. (Roblyer & Doering pg. 17) Chapter 1 discussed how they felt like it was pushing schools into decreased funding and less money for other areas. When enforcing one-on-one computing a school must be well aware of the cost. Technology has never been cheap and the cost is steadily rising. Chapter 1 also mentioned, the fact that some educators are fighting back against the subject. Claiming that the teaching and learning relationship has not been clearly established between teachers students yet.(Roblyer & Doering pg.25) 

As educators I want you all to take a moment and think...while technology use is very essential to the new generations education and career, how can you get that career if you cannot hold a respectful conversation with your employer? While I am a strong advocate for technology, I believe if we do not take a step back and find other ways for students to learn, we will lose the simple things in life. Like being able to hold a proper and interesting conversation. Below is a link that explains why some schools are looking for other options besides one-on-one computing. While this article did highlight the pros of one-on-one computing there are always cons to every good thing.  

Why Schools Must Move Beyond One-On-One Computing

- Here's an excellent video on one-on-one computing! http://t.co/0W5htWfj8g via @youtube #ED505UWARAY

— Costella Tucker-Duke (@CostellaTuckerD) June 17, 2013