Computers in the classroom lowering intelligence
My university, like many universities, is invested in computer literacy. However, articles such as this and this give one pause. In short, both articles suggest that the multitasking nature of the computer is making students less adept at problem solving and analysis: that "[c]hildren are now awash with 'facts,' but don't know what to do with them."
Of course, the results of the above studies can be reinterpreted. IQ metrics and other standardized tests are steeped in specific notions of what constitutes intelligence and literacy. As such, a more precise interpretation of the study results may be that the kind of intelligence being measured is not the same as that being formed by a new generation of students developing in a digital milieu. The nature of intelligence may be shifting toward filtering, correlating, and synthesizing the superabundance of information, and tests may have not yet adjusted accordingly.
Nevertheless, I think the question remains if this "new" literacy is something we really want. By our current metrics, it's making us less intelligent. That means we either have to adjust our metrics or reconsider our new habits. As the Alliance for Childhood remarks, "Technology is not destiny, its design and use flow from human choices."
- J. Tirrell
- jtirrell's blog
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RE: Computers
Vaughan over at Mind Hacks dug into the validity of the reports positing a relationship between email use and lower IQ scores, and his assessment seems to be that they are more spin than substance. His statements certainly bring to the forefront the bias, intentional or not, inherent in trying to quantify intelligence.
- J. Tirrell
report validity
I kind of wondered about that. Giving an IQ test during receiving and sending emails certainly does not mean that someone has a lower IQ. LOL This is more about multitasking's cognitive inefficiency, something we already know, than it is about email.
Schoolchildren are
Schoolchildren are developing a "problem-solving deficit disorder", and losing the ability to analyze. A better way, experts insist, is to encourage creativity. And the best remedy for this is to turn off the computer and stimulate childrens' imaginations.
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The difference technology makes
I'm not sure that technology is making us less intelligent, even by our current metrics. If you were to ask a random sample of people to describe their view of an intelligent person, I'd guess that the stereotypical image of a technogeek would be quite prevalent. Certainly, I've never heard anyone seriously suggest that Bill Gates is dumb. Furthermore, computers do wonders to enhance problem-solving ability, simply because they create so many problems. What is bug-fixing, other than problem solving?
I find it interesting that these articles seem to suggest that today's students are getting access to plenty of information; the concern that they cannot filter this information, evaluate it, and apply it. It's not clear to me that students are getting more information than they ever did. They have access to it, yes, but that doesn't mean they're receiving it. Compare a classroom of students doing paper-based research with a classroom of students doing Internet-based research, and I think the amount of real information received will be remarkably similar. Even with traditional methods, it's not hard to find information faster than you can truly learn it; finding it faster doesn't allow you to learn it faster.
Given my views that technology does not guarantee more information or less problem-solving ability, am I suggesting that it makes no difference at all? No. In the first place, students in a technology-based classroom may not learn more, but they unquestionably learn different things. This difference is critical in today's work world, and probably also in the personal lives of the students.
In the second place, technology not only enables students to learn different things, it enables them to learn differently. Consider, for example, medical students who learn about medical software by completing computer-based training simulations. The simulation allows them to experiment and try new things without destroying real patient data. Not only is the course content different from what it would have been fifty years ago, but so is the pedagogy.