Is this actually true?
According to news source The Guardian, cell phone bans actually improve the learning capacity of students. Not just good students, but students that aren't doing as well show major improvements without the use of mobile technology. However, a key factor found within the article's information creates an irrelevant argument within the location of our school. The article's information is based off of a survey done in the U.K.
The information presented was shown that removing cell phones from the learning environment will greatly reduce distractions. However, unlike in the U.K, students at our school are provided a laptop to help with school assignments. U.K students also probably don't have access to a computer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week like most of us do. So removing phones would just take away a small portion of distractions.
The district IT office is working on blocking unproductive websites, but their method is far from perfect. I've seen educational websites such as Thigiverse and a blog written by the co-founder of the event known as Makerfaire blocked for some stupid reason. The category they are blocked as is also inaccurate. Example: Thingiverse used to be blocked under Forums.Social_Networking. Considering it's a 3D file library, the category isn't accurate. Websites like Dailymotion, which is a video streaming service similar to Youtube (Which is blocked for students in 7th grade and below) is categorized as pornography. I've used Dailymotion a few times, mostly to watch full episodes of my favorite TV show and I have not seen anything bad on it. As far as I know, most streaming websites like that enable age filters that block certain videos for users younger than 18 years old.
Product forums such as Yahoo Answers that could help me fix a computer problem are blocked under the same category as Thingiverse. I currently own a drone that I'm looking to buy a spare battery for. The website that sells the drones is blocked as photography, even though the only thing they sell that is even remotely similar to photography is a camera attachment for the quad-copters. On the other hand, another drone website that sells the same cameras with the same kind of drones is unblocked.
Unproductive websites have also slipped the filter at times, allowing students to game during class. A clever method using the sites service provided by google allows for some gaming blogs with included games to, in theory, be unable to be blocked. Texting on phones can instantly be replaced with instant messaging services available to internet users.
So back to the original theory of cell phones being linked to better education. Removing them wouldn't remove all the distractions that are keeping some students from learning. They would just create a temporary barrier for distractions that would probably be filled by some other form of procrastination. Cell phones aren't the problem of the learning environment, the problem is teachers jumping to conclusions and just assuming cell phones are the problem. They didn't have them as kids, so they don't understand how incredibly useful they are to students. It's like carrying around a notebook, calculator, drawing pad, textbook, and camera all rolled into one lightweight, small, and convenient device. Carrying around all those things would probably result in a backpack that weights upwards of 10 pounds. According to some research, students are not supposed to be carrying bags that weigh more than 15% of their body weight.
Another reason that phones shouldn't be banned is the short term memory and stature of students. Keeping track of several binders, assignments, and textbooks can be challenging. Having them all available on one device would reduce the mental load on the average student. Forgetting something and then having to visit a locker to get what you forgot can result in learning time missed. Stature of a student also suffers from the heavy supplies required for school every day. As much as professionals claim that phones will damage the neck of users, heavy bags will damage the spine of students. I recently visited San Mateo, California, and walking through the airport, I noticed that the bag I take on a vacation is lighter than the bag I take to school every single day.
In conclusion, cell phones are not the root of all learning problems in the learning environment. Banning them would just cause chaos and not actually solve any problems. All the distractions of a phone can be replaced by the distraction of the laptop computer.
 |
| Photo Courtesy of Your's Truly Spyderwillster |
Oh, and most of the links included in this editorial won't be accessible by PCSD students.
No comments:
Post a Comment