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Step 1: give every kid a laptop. Step 2: learning begins?

arstechnica.com

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Re: Step 1: give every kid a laptop. Step 2: learning begins?

#31

Post by firefoxman1 »

jdietrich wrote: post #22

Teaching is a bizarrely evidence-free field. It's as if there's an active aversion to finding out whether a method or tool works or not. I can't think of any field where so little is known, where there is such a paucity of good data. We've been spending hundreds of millions on putting technology in classrooms, without a shred of evidence that it improves learning outcomes. As a society we do plenty of things that we…

In my high school we were all given laptops and all the teachers had SmartBoards. Here's how the technology was used:

1. We all gamed in class and got a shred of work done.

2. A fraction of the teachers used the boards, even though they were all trained how to.

3. They were crappy Dells that spent a good deal of time being repaired so many students were without a laptop on any given day.

4. I was personally taken home in a police car by the school officer and had my laptop confiscated for using VNC on a teacher's unsecured Smartboard. Those things caused way more trouble than good.

Oh...and our rival school all bombarded the local Blackboard servers on Exam day and DDoS'ed their way out of exams.

Re: Step 1: give every kid a laptop. Step 2: learning begins?

#32

Post by lotu »

DanBC wrote: post #10

I could understand a project to give every child a (good quality) e-ink reader. These devices could be semi-locked down, and have minimal specs. That'd reduce the opportunities for use other than reading text books. People can highlight passages they're finding difficult. There could be basic exercise questions (and these could even be web enabled). It'd fit in well with open source text books; allowing updating of c…

Are you referring to the in the US? If that's the case I think Universities are starting to do that type of thing and it may filter into high schools in the next couple of years.

Re: Step 1: give every kid a laptop. Step 2: learning begins?

#33

Post by lotu »

cromulent wrote: post #25

Illiteracy would seem to be the first problem to solve in many of these areas, not a lack of laptops. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5251340 One library (card) per child might be a better goal.

However laptops are probably cheaper then building enough libraries.

Re: Step 1: give every kid a laptop. Step 2: learning begins?

#34

Post by lotu »

quesera wrote: post #24
evilduck wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Touch interfaces are just fine for creating. They only become limited when you're trying to emulate a different interface, like a precision pointing device, or half assed emulation of an interface like a keyboard, which relies on precise finger placement and a variety of non-visual feedback mechanisms. The iPad has no practical multitouch input limits (I think it's limited to what int can hold), so it can track all 1…

iOS is actually limited to eleven simultaneous touch events. We have ten fingers, typically, and there has been fair speculation about what the eleventh input method might be.

A cat?

Re: Step 1: give every kid a laptop. Step 2: learning begins?

#35

Post by evilduck »

jerf wrote: post #15
evilduck wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Touch interfaces are just fine for creating. They only become limited when you're trying to emulate a different interface, like a precision pointing device, or half assed emulation of an interface like a keyboard, which relies on precise finger placement and a variety of non-visual feedback mechanisms. The iPad has no practical multitouch input limits (I think it's limited to what int can hold), so it can track all 1…

No, touch interfaces definitely have less bandwidth than a keyboard, and you can't make it all up with clever tech. Fingers are huge, relatively speaking, and for touch interfaces to make up for that fact they must get fewer bits out of the resulting input. The mathematics of signal processing require this. A stroke is much less definitive than a keystroke, or a mouse motion with click, etc. Moreover, you have the pr…

I don't remember asserting they would take over everywhere, just that they can function fine for content creation. By content, I did not mean "stuff created with a keyboard" and I think my second sentence makes that perfectly clear. Touchscreens are clearly not perfect multi-purpose interfaces.

But I think you're ignoring the true significance of multitouch and other sensors and the additional dimensions of input that provides. A keyboard is nearly linear input. There's a lot of 2 finger chords and a smaller set of 3 finger keyboard chords, but for typing there's nothing really separating a 3 fingered man from a 10 fingered man except for input speed. Compare that to the capabilities of a 3 fingered man and a 10 fingered man playing the piano and you get the idea.

Re: Step 1: give every kid a laptop. Step 2: learning begins?

#36

Post by lotu »

mapster wrote: post #13

My inlaws purchased a fancy laptop for my kids. It serves as a game and Youtube hub. Occasional Wikipedia lookup for school. I help them fiddle with a few kid-level programming apps, but other than that I have the existential feeling towards computers and kids: what's the point? I'd just a soon break out the Apple 2e from the garage and let them stare at the DOS prompt - they might discover its a computer that way an…

Not everyone is going to grow up to be a programmer. Viewing videos and playing games are important developmental activities. Yes programming a computer is a stunning form of creation for me and many others here but not everyone shares that view. For others, music, art, writing, teaching, and building give them that feeling of joy of creating.

Re: Step 1: give every kid a laptop. Step 2: learning begins?

#37

Post by mapster »

lotu wrote: post #36
mapster wrote: post #13

My inlaws purchased a fancy laptop for my kids. It serves as a game and Youtube hub. Occasional Wikipedia lookup for school. I help them fiddle with a few kid-level programming apps, but other than that I have the existential feeling towards computers and kids: what's the point? I'd just a soon break out the Apple 2e from the garage and let them stare at the DOS prompt - they might discover its a computer that way an…

Not everyone is going to grow up to be a programmer. Viewing videos and playing games are important developmental activities. Yes programming a computer is a stunning form of creation for me and many others here but not everyone shares that view. For others, music, art, writing, teaching, and building give them that feeling of joy of creating.

Spot on. Not to imply computers are for programming only. I am perplexed at how to best make a computer/laptop useful to a kid. The issue I see are: too many options, too many passive activities, or too complex creative applications.

Re: Step 1: give every kid a laptop. Step 2: learning begins?

#38

Post by freehunter »

simonsarris wrote: post #21
tom_b wrote: post #4

Forget the hardware. What we really need is a way to get Anki (spaced repetition learning software) hooked up with enough logic (AI like?) to allow individualized learning with different instruction methods that tailor themselves to each student based on subject. Of course, what I am really saying is that Neal Stephenson showed us the way with "The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" in The Diamond Age. Now all we have…

This is precisely what Kumon learning centers already do. I worked at one for a few years as a tutor. Annoyingly, the biggest complaint from new parents was "My kid already did this worksheet! Why are you giving it to him again?" I had to explain that repetition was the most important part. You could explain the science but the parents don't seem to care about that part. The parents often thought that it was de-motiv…

I'm taking a class through my university right now that uses LearnSmart from McGraw-Hill. I was pretty irritated having to buy a subscription to a website in order to do my homework ($50 plus the $230 book, seriously?), but they have a study guide that you have to go through to get to the homework that is actually quite helpful. Right up front, it presents you with the question then asks how sure you are that you know it. If you don't know it very well (even if you get it right) it keeps asking the question until its sure you know it. You're supposed to go through this every day (or so), and it will ask different questions mixed in with the older questions.

Worth the $50? That's debatable. Helpful? You bet your sweet ass. When I miss a question then get it right the next time it comes around, it's difficult to describe how I feel.

Re: Step 1: give every kid a laptop. Step 2: learning begins?

#39

Post by kalid »

danielsoneg wrote: post #27
jdietrich wrote: post #22

Teaching is a bizarrely evidence-free field. It's as if there's an active aversion to finding out whether a method or tool works or not. I can't think of any field where so little is known, where there is such a paucity of good data. We've been spending hundreds of millions on putting technology in classrooms, without a shred of evidence that it improves learning outcomes. As a society we do plenty of things that we…

I think part of the problem is that it's a very difficult question to quantify - we can't control the inputs, we're not totally sure what we want from the outputs, it's unlikely that a uniform process will work to get the outputs we want, and we don't have the materials to guarantee a uniform process from start to finish. On the input side, each incoming class is different: they vary across geographic and socioeconom…

Great comment. I think the difficulty in defining what makes a good teacher is as difficult as what defines a good parent. In rough terms, I think a good parent means someone who raises a compassionate, honest child.

Similarly, a good teacher / education system is one that raises inquisitive students. I've long believed it's better to graduate kids who love algebra vs. those that know and hate calculus. Because in 10 years, the ones who loved algebra will probably end up loving calculus too (instead of developing a lifelong aversion to math, and learning in general).

So, my meta-reply would be to search for a system that tries to generate genuine interest in learning. (Plug: I try to blog in this manner at http://betterexplained.com).

Re: Step 1: give every kid a laptop. Step 2: learning begins?

#40

Post by MaysonL »

jdietrich wrote: post #22

Teaching is a bizarrely evidence-free field. It's as if there's an active aversion to finding out whether a method or tool works or not. I can't think of any field where so little is known, where there is such a paucity of good data. We've been spending hundreds of millions on putting technology in classrooms, without a shred of evidence that it improves learning outcomes. As a society we do plenty of things that we…

Of course, quite a lot is known about what makes a good teacher. It just isn't widely known, let alone taught to new teachers, let alone to current teachers.

See http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Teachers-t.html... and the book that came out of the research featured in the article: "Teach Like a Champion".

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