Q&A: For Tech in the Classroom, 'How' Matters More Than 'How Much'
As lawmakers in dozens of states consider legislation on AI in schools and districts nationwide weigh screen restrictions, debate over how—and how much—technology belongs in the classroom shows no signs of slowing. The American Federation of Teachers recently released a that includes banning screens for students through second grade.
professor Jing Lei says that some of the suggestions take a simplistic approach to complicated issues that could lead to new challenges.
Current research on age-appropriate technology use in early childhood emphasizes that “how” technology is used matters far more than “how much” technology is used. Active and meaningful technology use such as creative production and collaborative problem-solving yields meaningfully better developmental outcomes than passive consumption like video-watching or repetitive games.
Research also shows that technology can positively support fine motor skills, language development, social-emotional learning and school readiness, and that it is particularly valuable for children with special needs, from disadvantaged backgrounds and language learners.
However, for young children to use technology meaningfully and productively, adult supervision, guidance and co-engagement is critically important. Young children learn more from technology when an adult is present to mediate and connect the experience to real life.
The greatest risk technology poses to young learners is the displacement of the hands-on play, physical activity, social connections and interactions that are foundational to healthy development in early ages.
There is a distinction between supporting learning versus displacing social interactions, but this distinction may or may not lie in the tool itself. Again, “how” the tool is used is more critical than “what” technology is used. Clear educational intention and thoughtful pedagogical design is essential for any technology tool to be integrated in the learning process to support learning.
I would like to point out that “classrooms,” particularly K-12 classrooms, often are talked about as if they are self-contained environments isolated from the rest of the society. But in reality, classrooms are situated in the local community and deeply connected to what is happening in the family and in society.
Treating the classroom as a self-contained unit leads to plans that can be technically coherent, but socially decontextualized. For example, treating students in the abstract sense rather than a real child embedded in a family, a cultural community and an ever-changing society.
Therefore, it is important to recognize that the teacher is not the only educator in a child’s life. School-based technology decisions need to be grounded in the full reality of children’s lives and be part of a larger conversation about children’s complete learning ecology: the home, the neighborhood, the library, the local community, the peer group—all of which are technology environments that affect children’s development.
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