'Educational' Screens In Classrooms Do More Harm Than Good | Opinion

There has been a lot of recent attention on attempts to get phones out of schools. The data make clear that phones inhibit students' learning, cause and exacerbate discipline issues, and harm students' mental health. Evidence is also clear that phone bans work. Bans improve academic outcomes, especially for the lowest-performing students, and improve the social environment for students.

For all these reasons, schools, school districts, and even entire states are getting rid of phones in the classroom. But what about the other "educational" screens sitting on students' desks all day?

While phones may be the worst culprits for distraction from learning during the school day, the "educational" screens many children are using in their classrooms, like Chromebooks, tablets, or laptops, are also hurting academic outcomes.

Despite the increasing push over the last decade to get every child a laptop or tablet, the so-called 1:1 laptop policy doesn't seem to be working out. Instead, student math, reading, and science scores have been on the decline in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly contributed to recent drops in scores, the largest seen since the 1970s ("virtual learning" on screens at home didn't help). But the numbers have been on the decline since 2012.

‍

Read full article here: https://www.newsweek.com/educational-screens-classrooms-do-more-harm-good-opinion-1953468

‍

‍