Research on Technology Archives - Waldorf Research Institute

Kids Understand More From Books Than Screens, But That’s Not Always the Case

Staff — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 15:17:08 +0000

Photo Credit: Annie Spratt – UnSplash

Research demonstrates that children (adults, too!) comprehend and retain more when reading a printed page than when reading online. Yet the incessant urge continues to push to make both the means for teaching children. In this article, this is demonstrated emphatically. God bless the teachers, like those interviewed for this article, who work to follow the government mandates on the purchase and use of technology as they work to bring to children what they truly need to learn and to learn to read!

International Baccalauriate Schools have allowed ChatGPT as an acceptable source on written papers

Staff — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 12:31:02 +0000

Image: Emiliano Vittoriosi

Much media attention has emerged on the new technology “ChatGPT” and its impact on student work especially in high schools. Questions put to students for homework and testing can be answered by AI by “simply pressing a button” as one International Bacculauriat (IB) teacher put it. IB schools have announced their intention to allow students to use ChatGPT as reference, refocusing student learning to “skills of the future,” and away from original essay writing. This articles pose compelling questions and rich perspective on teaching and learning and point to issues at the heart of Waldorf Education.

Here are two worthwhile articles about this new technology and the essential questions the IB schools’ decision brings forward:

“Citing my Unreliable Friend – the Story of the IB and ChatGPT,” by Ray Ravaglia

https://intrepidednews.com/the-ib-reaches-for-the-self-destruct-button-sanje-ratnavale/

Surgeon General bans use of social media for kids under 14 years old

Staff — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 14:17:37 +0000

Image: https://unsplash.com/@josuemichelphotography

At long last, someone in leadership has stated out loud that Social Media is not fitting for youngsters under the age of 14.

The pandemic pushed many children onto social media and gaming sites as the only social outlet available to them. Many parents have expressed dismay over “losing their child,” because the addictive nature of screens has made it impossible to return to “ordinary life” without their children chained to their phones for social media and video games.

Consistent fighting over turning a device off, completing homework and household chores, coming to the dinner table, and sleeping, are part of the profile of symptoms that have intensified since the closing of schools and isolation during he pandemic.

Often connected to humiliation and bullying on Social Media, suicide rates in the young have increased. Read here about the decision of the Surgeon General. We might disagree with his decision about the age as still too young, there is at least some cautionary boundary being set about the darker side of using social media.

Does media watching inhibit the development of executive functioning?

Staff — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 13:05:34 +0000

image: Kelly Sikkema https://unsplash.com/@kellysikkema

This kind of study on screen watching shows up the treacherous nature of trying to tease out cause from effect: Does media watching inhibit the development of executive functioning — or does a lifestyle of diminished executive functioning lead to greater media watching: Who’s the chicken, who the egg?

“Your child’s academic success may start with their screen time as infants, study says”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/30/health/screen-time-infants-executive-function-wellness/index.html

‘Is This Going to Piss People Off?’ How to Make Tough Tech Decisions

Staff — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 20:24:10 +0000

As public schools across the United States prepare for full reopening in the fall of 2021, they face many decisions about how to use technology after the pandemic year of “hybrid learning.” Fraught with high costs and a plethora of opinion, the research they have done is one help to proceeding responsibly.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Is Your Child Overstimulated from Too Much Screen Time?

Staff — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 17:21:57 +0000

The impact on a child’s nervous system from screen technology sets in long before addiction has settled in. Read here:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mental-wealth/201711/is-your-child-overstimulated-too-much-screen-time

Child Psychiatrist, Victoria Dunkley, M.D., author of Reset your Child’s Brain, and doctor featured on “Good Morning America,” and as a steady blog writer for Psychology Today, for her success in “unplugging” children from screens, has a rich and helpful blog on all topics related to brain development and interference from electronics. Read some of them here and join her blog for more!

What Photos From 1948 Can Teach Us About Doctors, Patients And Screens

Staff — Sun, 09 Jun 2019 12:51:38 +0000

What is the meaning of a “healing relationship” with a doctor or other health care provider? Here, one doctor wonders about it:

https://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2019/06/07/electronic-medical-records-country-doctor-life-magazine

Why Social Media is Ruining Your Relationships

Staff — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 18:00:27 +0000

This is more reflection than hard data but an important reflection of social media and its influence on our social relationships.

Worth a read!

How (and When) to Limit Kids’ Tech Use

Staff — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 21:19:28 +0000

Wondering how to limit the use of screens in your child’s (and your own) life? Here’s a good idea or two!
https://www.nytimes.com/guides/smarterliving/family-technology

Students who use digital devices in class ‘perform worse in exams’

Staff — Sun, 01 Jul 2018 20:48:36 +0000

MIT studies indicate students do better on exams when they prepare without a computer or an electronic device.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/may/11/students-who-use-digital-devices-in-class-perform-worse-in-exams