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Sweden goes back to basics, swapping screens for books in the classroom

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Re: Sweden goes back to basics, swapping screens for books in the classroom

#251

Post by Minor49er »

gritspants wrote: post #4
smatti wrote: post #2

A very similar development is going on in neighboring Finland. There are schools that use almost exclusively paper books (instead of digital ones) again. The overall consensus among parents is that books are way better than screens for kids, all the way up to high school. Hand-writing and free drawing with pen and paper provide many advantages to fixed screens. You cannot open a new tab to Youtube in a book. The sign…

I don't see the advantage of learning 'AI workflows'. I am in the US and there seems to be a FOMO plague infecting our school system when it comes to technology. In practice it seems more destructive to the child.

[dead]

Re: Sweden goes back to basics, swapping screens for books in the classroom

#252

Post by JKCalhoun »

pier25 wrote: post #199

I worked in EdTech about a decade ago and our education/pedagogy experts were already talking about this. They also talked a lot about how handwriting is super important for cognitive development. After working on that company for a couple of years I realized using tech in education (pre university) was a mistake. One of the reasons I left. In a decade or two the long term consequences of inundating kids with tech an…

Kind of why Khan Academy makes me cringe.

Re: Sweden goes back to basics, swapping screens for books in the classroom

#253

Post by xboxnolifes »

datsci_est_2015 wrote: post #237
ninalanyon wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how to touch type What for? I've been writing computer programs and documentation since 1969 and I can't touch type. I've never felt enough pressure to do it. I can still type faster than I can think. When I'm writing most of my time is spent thinking not tapping the keys.

You typed out this message by hitting individual keys as your eyes searched for them? Isn’t that mentally exhausting?

You dont need to learn to touch type to avoid searching out each key individually. You just need experience.

I was taught touch typing as a kid. None of it took. I dont use the home row. I developed into the gamer home row hand positioning for typing.

Re: Sweden goes back to basics, swapping screens for books in the classroom

#254

Post by alecbz »

datsci_est_2015 wrote: post #237
ninalanyon wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how to touch type What for? I've been writing computer programs and documentation since 1969 and I can't touch type. I've never felt enough pressure to do it. I can still type faster than I can think. When I'm writing most of my time is spent thinking not tapping the keys.

You typed out this message by hitting individual keys as your eyes searched for them? Isn’t that mentally exhausting?

> Although [touch typing] refers to typing without using the sense of sight to find the keys ... the term is often used to refer to a specific form of touch typing that involves placing the eight fingers in a horizontal row along the middle of the keyboard (the home row) and having them reach for specific other keys.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_typing

I think they're referring to the latter.

Re: Sweden goes back to basics, swapping screens for books in the classroom

#255

Post by kpw94 »

fasterik wrote: post #217
pier25 wrote: post #199

I worked in EdTech about a decade ago and our education/pedagogy experts were already talking about this. They also talked a lot about how handwriting is super important for cognitive development. After working on that company for a couple of years I realized using tech in education (pre university) was a mistake. One of the reasons I left. In a decade or two the long term consequences of inundating kids with tech an…

>I realized using tech in education (pre university) was a mistake. I think we should use tech in education, but in a targeted way. It's important that children gain basic technical literacy, like how to touch type and use basic software. I suspect there is a gap in the technical literacy of lower income students, whose parents are less likely to have a computer at home. The real problem is separating reading/writing…

That's not using tech that you're describing here. You're talking about literally learning some basic computer skills (such as word processor, excel, reading email, some basic website building, use printer, and some amount of programming)

For those, obviously you need a computer and completely agree that those are important skills to learn... But you maybe need to spend 1h/week during last 2 years of middle school on those at the computer lab (as it's been done since the 90s in many schools around the world)

But for any other course such as Math, English (or whichever primary language in your country), second languages, history, etc. : that's where using tech is a mistake

A bit of tech is ok, but it cannot be "everyone does their homework and read lesson on a iPad/Chromebook"

Re: Sweden goes back to basics, swapping screens for books in the classroom

#256

Post by toast0 »

red_admiral wrote: post #204

I support this, up to the point where a second-grader has to carry four textbooks and four exercise books around on their walk to school; from the rucksack weight to body weight ratio they might as well be training for the marines. Ipads are not the solution - that gets you back to screen/computer mode in the classroom. e-readers/ e-paper tablets might be worth a try. (Just please don't make every child have a mandat…

> I support this, up to the point where a second-grader has to carry four textbooks and four exercise books around on their walk to school; from the rucksack weight to body weight ratio they might as well be training for the marines.

I went to school a million years ago, but IIRC we kept our textbooks in the classroom until middle school (7th grade for me). Maybe one textbook might go home with math homework or an English project. For my kid, they would usually just send worksheets home; which is ok, but if you wanted to reference not on the sheet, too bad. Post-covid, there's a lot more dependence on google classroom with all that comes with it (but maybe that's also how the upper grades were working anyway)

E-readers with textbooks loaded could work, but hopefully the textbooks are tuned for the medium.

Anyway, isn't a heavy backpack a secret fitness program???

Re: Sweden goes back to basics, swapping screens for books in the classroom

#259

Post by mort96 »

pier25 wrote: post #225
fasterik wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I realized using tech in education (pre university) was a mistake. I think we should use tech in education, but in a targeted way. It's important that children gain basic technical literacy, like how to touch type and use basic software. I suspect there is a gap in the technical literacy of lower income students, whose parents are less likely to have a computer at home. The real problem is separating reading/writing…

> It's important that children gain basic technical literacy They certainly will at home. > I suspect there is a gap in the technical literacy of lower income students, whose parents are less likely to have a computer at home. In which country? I live in Mexico and even here you really need to go to the poorest families to find a home without a laptop. Even those families have multiple smartphones. Today a smartphone…

Many parents don't themselves have the technical literacy to properly teach things like what thr filesystem is.

Re: Sweden goes back to basics, swapping screens for books in the classroom

#260

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

xboxnolifes wrote: post #253
datsci_est_2015 wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You typed out this message by hitting individual keys as your eyes searched for them? Isn’t that mentally exhausting?

You dont need to learn to touch type to avoid searching out each key individually. You just need experience. I was taught touch typing as a kid. None of it took. I dont use the home row. I developed into the gamer home row hand positioning for typing.

I have an "unofficial" typing style. I tried learning official touch typing but it caused immediate hand cramps.

Touch typing would probably be faster, but I've never found slow typing speeds a limiting factor in either writing or software dev.

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