New research by Michigan State University has found that mobile phone use by young people doesn’t appear to do any harm to their educational achievement.
A three-year study of students from 20 schools found that using mobiles had no effect on the educational results of a group of 12-year-olds.
I’m sure teens will welcome the news by continuing to text message in class! 😉
The study also looked at video game use which showed mixed results:
while the researchers found a strong relationship between video games and lower results, gaming did not appear to affect skills in mathematics and actually had a positive relationship with visual-spatial skills.
Interesting news for all those involved with young people, but specifically those in school environments. How can this research be incorporated into lessons?
Link via @joshdhaliwal on twitter
3 responses to “Mobiles at school don’t harm kids”
In 1980 or 1981 when I was at infant school, I recall the class being asked in one by one to “the quiet room” where a strange black box in a nest of wires attached to a cassette player seemed to have landed on the table. The curtains, I remember, were drawn in reverence of this strange new thing and a hushed atmosphere prevailed.
I was given a times table test to do on the “computer” with the promise that if I got all the questions right the “computer” would then let me play space invaders. I was left to it. I got all the questions right. I did not play space invaders as I had no idea what it was or how you were supposed to play it.
No doubt the use of computer games in education has got a lot better over the years?
LOL! Thanks Charlotte, that brings back memories!
I remember having a BBC Acorn in our classroom with the huge floppy
disks. We had to take turns to use it too!
I think educational ICT has got a lot better since then.
But of course. Kids having mobile phones is pretty much of an advantage for parents. I don't think that this would cause harm on their studies as well.