A new study shows that US children have more access and exposure to media than ever before, from television to computers to mobile devices.  The media forms depend on relative affluence, with more interactive media access increasing with parental income.  Will this tech gap lead to educational and cultural gaps in the latest born digital generations?

by Tamar Lewin / New York Times / 25 October 2011

Jaden Lender, 3, sings along softly with the “Five Little Monkeys” app on the family iPad, and waggles his index finger along with the monkey doctor at the warning, “No more monkeys jumping on the bed!” He likes crushing the ants in “Ant Smasher,” and improving his swing in the golf app. But he is no app addict: when the one featuring Grover from Sesame Street does not work right, Jaden says, “Come on, iPad!’” — then wanders happily off to play with his train set.

“I’ll lie to myself that these are skill builders,’” said his father, Keith Lender, who has downloaded dozens of tablet and smart phone apps for Jaden and his 1-year-old brother, Dylan. “No, I’m not lying,” he said, correcting himself. “Jaden’s really learning hand-eye coordination from the golf game, and it beats the hell out of sitting and watching television.”

Despite the American Academy of Pediatrics’ longstanding recommendations to the contrary, children under 8 are spending more time than ever in front of screens, according to a study scheduled for release Tuesday.

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Image Source: article: Michael Appleton for the New York Times

Defenders of educational technologies claim that their contributions to learning are not sufficiently captured in conventional, standardized tests.  Critics, however, continue to press on the question of quantifiable, demonstrated results.

Grading the Digital School: Inflating the Software Report Card

by Trip Gabriel / New York Times / 8 October 2011

The Web site of Carnegie Learning, a company started by scientists at Carnegie Mellon Universitythat sells classroom software, trumpets this promise: “Revolutionary Math Curricula. Revolutionary Results.”

In Augusta, Ga., the school district has expanded the use of Cognitive Tutor math software to all of its high school students.

Grading the Digital School

Unfulfilled Promises

IN THE COMPUTER LAB | Brandon Penvose, a ninth grader, working through math problems last month.

The pitch has sounded seductive to thousands of schools across the country for more than a decade. But a review by the United States Department of Education last year would suggest a much less alluring come-on: Undistinguished math curricula. Unproven results.

The federal review of Carnegie Learning’s flagship software, Cognitive Tutor, said the program had “no discernible effects” on the standardized test scores of high school students. A separate 2009 federal look at 10 major software products for teaching algebra as well as elementary and middle school math and reading found that nine of them, including Cognitive Tutor, “did not have statistically significant effects on test scores.”

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Image Source:  T. Lynne Pixley for the New York Times

The Education Nation Conference recently held in NYC was a big-buzz event.  There seems to be a growing consensus feeling in education circles that the time has come for educational technologies to ‘put up or shut up.’  Alter claims to have gone in to the conference as a skeptic and come out of it as a qualified supporter. 

by Jonathan Alter / Bloomberg View / 29 September 2011

Illustrator: Andy Rementer

The education reform movement is at an important juncture. It will either peter out in platitudes or advance based on a new consensus. At this week’s Education Nation conference in New York City, I came away with some hope for the latter. My cautious optimism is rooted in two Ts — technology and transparency.

In the pitched battles between reformers and traditionalists, I’ve been passionately on the side of the reformers for almost 20 years. With the help of the last four presidents, they’ve made progress against the education establishment in pushing for accountability, common standards, charter schools, merit pay and rigorous teacher evaluation.

But traditionalists in the unions and the business-as-usual bureaucracy have recently been successful in depicting reformers as teacher-bashers (not guilty) and as overreliant on test scores in reading and math at the expense of other subjects (guilty).

Even if they cordially despise each other, reformers and traditionalists will now have to work together to implement the new accountability laws enacted in the past few years in about a dozen states.

One way to do so is by embracing smart new technology.

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Image Source:  article (Andy Rementer, illustrator)