Computer use irrelevant to education outcomes, says US study
Computer use irrelevant to
education outcomes, says US study
By Richard Chirgwin
The accepted wisdom that computers are an indispensable tool of modern education is under challenge in a study conducted for Germany’s Centre for Economic Studies IFO (CESifo).
The study, published by the University of California Santa Cruz’s Robert Fairlie and Johnathan Robertson, detected no difference between computer-owning children and those on the wrong side of the digital divide, on “educational outcomes, including grades, standardized test scores, credits earned, attendance and disciplinary actions”.
America spends $5 billion each year on computers in schools programs – nice work if you’re a vendor since obsolescence is guaranteed – but the paper notes that nine million US children between the ages of 10 and 17 lack either a computer or access to the Internet.
With previous literature divided on whether or not computers were beneficial, the UCSC researchers chose a
education outcomes, says US study
By Richard Chirgwin
The accepted wisdom that computers are an indispensable tool of modern education is under challenge in a study conducted for Germany’s Centre for Economic Studies IFO (CESifo).The study, published by the University of California Santa Cruz’s Robert Fairlie and Johnathan Robertson, detected no difference between computer-owning children and those on the wrong side of the digital divide, on “educational outcomes, including grades, standardized test scores, credits earned, attendance and disciplinary actions”.
America spends $5 billion each year on computers in schools programs – nice work if you’re a vendor since obsolescence is guaranteed – but the paper notes that nine million US children between the ages of 10 and 17 lack either a computer or access to the Internet.
With previous literature divided on whether or not computers were beneficial, the UCSC researchers chose a