Aug 30 2005
It’s all in how you use it…
More research (Computers widen gender gap for boys) that says boys are lagging behind girls in terms of school achievement, though nothing really earth-shattering. The article refers to research that found students who used computers for school work tended to score higher on examinations and national tests. At the same time, students – mainly boys – who used their time playing games on the computer tended to score lower.
As I said in the title, it’s all in how you use it. While the article talks about how the achievement of students who play a lot of computer games is lower, I would expect that students who spend their time playing football or watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would tend to score lower as well. This is a combination of not using the tool well and not using their time well. One of the things that we, as teachers, need to do is to help students understand that computers are not simply “boys’ toys”. They are powerful tools and students – boys and girls alike – need to see the power they have at their hands. In many cases, we simply don’t expose the students to enough opportunities for true learning with the computer. Instead, we often use computers for simple word processing, basic web-based research, or even for crowd control in the classroom. (You’ve finished your work? Okay, go play a game and be quiet.)
I wrote a couple of weeks ago about David Booth’s talk about boys and literacy. At one point, he spoke about computer games and the benefits that they can bring. Unfortunately, the type of gains students may experience don’t seem to be directly related to the exams and tests the researchers studied, based on these results.
We know that boys will continue to play games on the computer, as will many girls. What do we do? I know that I will continue to read about other people’s creative solutions and try to have students discover the true power of computers through engaging and creative activities. Am I always successful? Um, no! But at least the students have begun to see some more of the possibilities.
What are you doing to try to increase student achievement through the use of computers?
