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Screen Learning
A few days ago I noticed my six-year-old eating noodles in a funny way. He was pulling them up with his teeth while trying to look fierce. ‘I’m a little dinosaur,’ he said. He was play-acting a scene from a recent TV programme, so I quizzed him about what he remembered about dinosaurs. The answer was, not a lot. There is a modish rush to embrace internet and computer learning, but is learning via a screen a good method? One writer tells how he tried out an interactive programme with his son. The father diligently read the words while the son fiddled with the pictures. ‘Had he spent ten minutes in front of a book, he might possibly have learned something,’ said his father.
Television, as my son and his noodles demonstrate, is an impressionistic, suggestive medium. Research about television and learning shows that learning goes on in a learning environment where dialogue is taking place with teachers or parents. It needs to be mediated. There is nothing wrong with harnessing new technology to teach our children, but there is still a big role for formal education.
A few days ago I noticed my six-year-old eating noodles in a funny way. He was pulling them up with his teeth while trying to look fierce. ‘I’m a little dinosaur,’ he said. He was play-acting a scene from a recent TV programme, so I quizzed him about what he remembered about dinosaurs. The answer was, not a lot. There is a modish rush to embrace internet and computer learning, but is learning via a screen a good method? One writer tells how he tried out an interactive programme with his son. The father diligently read the words while the son fiddled with the pictures. ‘Had he spent ten minutes in front of a book, he might possibly have learned something,’ said his father.
Television, as my son and his noodles demonstrate, is an impressionistic, suggestive medium. Research about television and learning shows that learning goes on in a learning environment where dialogue is taking place with teachers or parents. It needs to be mediated. There is nothing wrong with harnessing new technology to teach our children, but there is still a big role for formal education.