Our Team Debate Topic: Computers for Preschool and Elementary Age Children -

Colleen Cordes, former reporter on science and technology policy for the Chronicle of Higher Education,
and Edward Miller, former editor of the Harvard Education Letter. Source: Alliance for Children, "Fool's Gold: A Critical Look at Computers and Childhood"
http://www.allianceforchildhood.net/projects/computers/computers_reports_fools_gold_intro.htm,


"They suspected that the benefits of computers for preschool and elementary school children were being vastly overstated. They felt also that the costs - in terms of money spent, loss of creative, hands-on educational opportunities, and damage to children's physical and emotional health - were not being accurately reported."
Issue 1: Health - Computers pose serious health hazards to children. The risks include repetitive stress injuries, eyestrain, obesity, social isolation, and, for some, long-term physical, emotional, or intellectual developmental damage. Our children, the Surgeon General warns, are the most sedentary generation ever. Will they thrive spending even more time staring at screens?

Issue 2: Personal - Children need stronger personal bonds with caring adults. Yet powerful technologies are distracting children and adults from each other.

Issue 3: Social - Children also need time for active, physical play; hands-on lessons of all kinds, especially in the arts; and direct experience of the natural world.

Issue 4: Academic - "there is no clear, commanding body of evidence that students' sustained use of multimedia machines, the Internet, word processing, spreadsheets, and other popular applications has any impact on academic achievement." Larry Cuban
The sheer power of information technologies may actually hamper young children's intellectual growth. Face-to-face conversation with more competent language users, for example, is the one constant factor in studies of how children become expert speakers, readers, and writers. Time for real talk with parents and teachers is critical. Similarly, academic success requires focused attention, listening, and persistence.

Issue 5: Harmful Babysitter, Developmental Problems - The computer - like the TV - can be a mesmerizing babysitter. But many children, overwhelmed by the volume of data and flashy special effects of the World Wide Web and much software, have trouble focusing on any one task.

Issue 6: Inhabits Imagination and Creative Thinking - Yet a heavy diet of ready-made computer images and programmed toys appears to stunt imaginative thinking. Teachers report that children in our electronic society are becoming alarmingly deficient in generating their own images and ideas.

Issue 7: Inappropriate, aggressive material - Too often, what computers actually connect children to are trivial games, inappropriate adult material, and aggressive advertising. They can also isolate children, emotionally and physically, from direct experience of the natural world.

Issue 8: Creating Incapable Individuals - The National Science Board reported in 1998 that prolonged exposure to computing environments may create "individuals incapable of dealing with the messiness of reality, the needs of community building, and the demands of personal commitments."

Source: The Dot.com Kids and the Demise of Frustration Tolerance
http://www.allianceforchildhood.net/projects/computers/computers_articles_dot_com_kids.htm, Marilyn B. Benoit, M.D.
The problem I see emerging in children is one of decreasing frustration tolerance. In lay language, this translates into a lack of patience, that old-fashioned virtue that people of my generation had preached to us repeatedly, "Patience is virtue."

Papers on Seymour Papert's book The Children's Machine
http://www.helsinki.fi/science/optek/1994/n1/miller.txt
http://www.helsinki.fi/science/optek/1995/n4/talbott.txt


"With all of the exciting innovations in computer technology, children have the opportunity to gain a wealth of knowledge without ever leaving home. Schools by comparison can seem dull."
"The aim is not just to outfit more classrooms with computers. Schools should be changed so that they encompass and guide out-of-school activities that already embrace technology."
(Douglas A. Ellmore, Sr., Steve E. Olson, Phillip M. Smith, Reinventing Schools: The Technology is Now!, http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9485.html)

Computer use can be hazardous to your health. So says an article by Paul Brodeur in the July 1990 MacWorld. The culprit is your computer monitor, or VDT - the television-like device that shows you what your computer is doing. The principal risks of using VDTs come from the static-electric and low-frequency electric and magnetic fields generated by the terminal's circuitry. The liquid crystal displays (LCDs) of most portable computers, and the less common light-emitting diode (LED) and plasma displays of portables do not present the dangers discussed here.

"Can Computers Make you Ill?" http://www.church-of-god.org/cogn/cn9908/jfyhlth.html#ill

http://www.oaeyc.org/reflect_techlab_2001.ppt

Children have important tasks to accomplish during their early years to build a solid base for future learning. Used appropriately, technology can be a positive factor in a child's learning process. But the use of computers and other technology must be thoughtfully planned to provide for their learning needs. Two important questions need to be considered when introducing young children to anything new, including technology: Is it developmentally appropriate—is it consistent with how a child develops and learns, and with the child's current developmental stage? Will the activity benefit the child, or will it replace some other, more meaningful learning activities? (http://www.netc.org/earlyconnections/index1.html)

Are there potential problems for children with computers? Flashing images and constantly moving graphics on television and computer screens make it harder for children to pay attention to tasks and activities that require sustained attention. Parents may want to set family guidelines for "screen time," including time on computers, watching TVs and videos, and playing video games. A good recommendation is one hour for preschoolers and two hours for elementary school children per day for all screen time combined. Electronics should not be allowed to substitute for activities such as homework, conversation, chores, hands-on games and hobbies, or just relaxing and being together. Unless computers are used for homework, have them off limits until school work is completed. (http://www.netc.org/earlyconnections/questions.html)

Our Team's Index Page
Sandy's Webpage on Education and Reform "Copyrighted Material, Sandy Wells, 2002."