Study Claims Phones And Net Hampers Children’s Education
Posted in Gadgets on 23. Sep, 2009
A newly released survey has claimed an increased use of phones and the internet is undermining pupils ability to study and is responsible for poor grammar amongst many school children.
The Cranfield School of Management has produced the report which blames children’s use of mobile phones and the internet for falling standards in pupils study, research and written communication skills.
The paper claims that 90 per cent of students did most research on the internet, which is twice the proportion who did their research by traditional books. It also found that 60 percent pupils have admitted to copying work from the internet without spending significant time reading or understanding the work, with a staggering 25% thinking blind copying is an acceptable practice. English skills have also been seen to suffer with 3 in 10 students admit using text shortcuts in essays and coursework.
Andrew Kakabadse, of Cranfield, said: “Our research shows that technology obsession hinders spelling skills, implicitly encourages plagiarism, and disrupts classroom learning.” in an even handed manner.
The Research also found that mobile phones especially had a negative effect upon school discipline with pupils often ignoring rules on mobile phones at School. One third of pupils admitted to using their phone in class, Andrew Kakabadse continues “Despite school policies restricting mobile phone usage, students use the phone frequently, with the majority making calls from the toilets. The mobile phone continues to be a prime channel of social communication during the school day.”
The report also shows additional patterns of behaviour that it find of concern; many pupils spend one or two hours per a day on social networking sites. Many pupils had access to a computer by 8, had used the internet by 10 (with some doing so as young as 5), and used social networking sites between 11 and 13. One in ten (9%) students have said they spend more than six hours a day online.
One does have to wonder with the tone of the report is that do the writers expect education, learning and society at large to remain static? As technology changes education will change and adapt as it does too many other stimuli. Many of these changes will be positive others will be negative. Circulated highlights of this report only seem to focus on the negative aspects of this technological change.
