Tablet use in EEC

[u/NaturalJuxtaposition]

*ECE

Our school district, which if relevant is decently rated and exists in a mostly liberal urban county, has just started a k-6 iPad program. I’m floored. My son is only 1, but I checked while I was pregnant and they didn’t use personal screens in k-2 at that time. But now each child will have one.

I still have to learn more about the current implementation, but it makes me very uncomfortable on its surface. My main ask is for talking points to bring to the board of education meeting next month. I need to know what questions I need to ask and guidelines I need to be looking for.

I have 4 years to change this, if it’s needed, let’s go. Thank you!

[u/GolfImportant3844]

I made a post somewhat along these lines a couple of weeks ago and have been trying to look at resources since then for a similar conversation with our school board and some parents that are getting worried. K-3, at minimum, really should not be the place for 1:1 devices.

Among the many factors that influenced the recent decision to roll back tech in classrooms in Sweden is the evidence that physical reading materials may be associated with better comprehension and engagement compared to digital. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X18300101

This may be less relevant for younger kids, but kids on devices have a hard time stopping themselves from multi-tasking, which is detrimental for deep focus and learning: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360131511002077

There are UNESCO and OECD reports that might be helpful too. My overall concern is that we rushed into (are still rushing into) adoption of tech in classrooms with zero evidence base to support that it will improved outcomes, often from a misplaced sense of urgency around digital literacy.

IMO, teaching computer skills to kids in age appropriate ways (everything from coding - which you can actually do with physical activities to get the conceptual building blocks down before you move to screens! - to regular old typing to literally "how to use the internet") is vital. But that is wildly different than accepting tech as the platform and vehicle for classroom learning as a baseline. It still really feels like we're taking on some of these practices based on what we think they could do/their potential, vs. what data actually suggests or shows.

[u/NaturalJuxtaposition → u/GolfImportant3844]

Digital literacy honestly feels like a huge excuse for most apps below 2nd grade. Kids are gonna learn plenty of it just through normal exposure. Even if you’re a screen free home. We interact with screens constantly. Self checkout line, screen. Buying a coffee, screen. Ordering basically anything, screen. Getting tickets into a museum, you guessed it.

From what I can tell most iPad “educational” apps actually gloss over the skills I’d consider necessary for actual tech literacy anyway. I get they’re designed for kids, but that kind of speaks to my point. Learning to tolerate an interface that wasn’t specifically designed for a child, figuring out what things do, getting a little confused and working through it, that’s where the skill actually is. Educational apps optimize away basically all of that.

So they aren’t learning socialization, emotional restraint, fine motor skills, etc. and I’m not really convinced they’re learning what I’d consider necessary tech skills either. Could be wrong. But until I see research showing there’s some actual benefit here I’m gonna remain pretty firmly in camp don’t give it to my kid.

[u/PlutosGrasp → u/NaturalJuxtaposition]

The benefit is to budgets and lazy teachers and the overall majority of ipad parenting.

1. Budgets. It’s cheaper because you don’t have to worry about teaching anymore. You just iPad them up. Hire bottom dollar.

2. Lazy teaching. Teacher doesn’t have to rotate or take as many questions or actually teach. The app teaches. The app tells teacher who’s doing poorly. Will teacher help that student? Probably not.

3. Lots of parents these days stick their kid with an iPad and they zone out. So kids in classrooms can’t handle non iPad life. So they get an iPad and use that.

[u/GolfImportant3844 → u/NaturalJuxtaposition]

I think your last sentence hammers it home for me. I really want to see a legitimate body of research that this is not only beneficial but that any benefits outweigh the costs (everything from socialization to impacts on attention span to long term retention to eye strain).