In the
recent times, technology seems to find its way into younger children’s hands.
Whether it be the iPhone for games, the iPad for television, or leapfrog
readers. When I first heard about the leapfrog readers, I thought they were
very cool and very helpful. But as I grew older, and started seeing them in
person, I started to think. Is this marring children’s learning experience? The
leapfrog reader consists of: a special book, and a computerized pen. With this
book, the pen could read the words children are having trouble sounding out.
But doesn’t that take away from the child’s learning?
The pen
is practically spoon feeding them the information they were supposed to
struggle to learn. As they sit, with the special book on their laps, learning
how to read, they are not comprehending the information that is being fed to
them. Instead of figuring out the process themselves, they are skipping it entirely.
The children sit with the book on their lap, using the pen to finish the book
for them, one the reach the end of the book they close it and go play, not
having learned a thing!
This problem could only happen if the children are given the
regular leapfrog pad. Now there is a leapfrog tablet that is basically an iPad
for ‘learning’. With this leapfrog tablet, you could play games to help ‘learn’
how to read, write, and do math. Is this the right way of teaching our
children? Though technology, instead of human contact? Should we continue doing
this? Today we are giving our young
children so many ways to circumvent learning. Are we harming our children with
these technologies? Or are we actually helping them for the future, to be more
dependent on technology? What do you think?
I think that some people nowadays would say they are against technologies "teaching" children and others think the technology is the best way to teach children. In my opinion, technology has become a tool that people are using on a daily basis to assist them in the simplest tasks. Apps on iPhones and games on iPads, like the Leapfrog app, are taking away the human contact way of teaching and learning. Yes, all students learn differently and some may benefit from the use of technology, while others need the human contact form of learning to comprehend the material. In the end, I think technology serves as another tool for students to use as a reference.
ReplyDeleteAt first I disagreed with your view that leapfrog may be harming children's learning processes. But as I read on you gave substantial evidence on your view. For example when you said the pen is "spoon-feeding" the information you are right. This takes away from the child actually sounding out the word and figuring it out on their own. Also i completely agree with your view that these types of technology take away from human contact. Children need the reassurance of an adult. Especially in learning to read they need someone to tell them they are doing a good job or help them when they get stuck. They need that teacher to answer questions and help them on the way,
ReplyDeleteI have to say. I completely disagree. The newest LeapFrog books have the ability to sound out letters and syllables. Unlike what you were saying about it saying the word without teaching the kids how to read them, it is completely opposite. But I see what you are saying about how if the book just tells you all the words, the kids wont be actually reading. To me, this is just like any other technology that in misused. Not unlike a calculator, this technology is supposed to be used as a reinforcement. But I definitely see where you are coming from.
ReplyDeleteAmanda, I think this is a very interesting topic because I always would have thought that the Leapfrog program WAS helpful! When I started seeing your examples about the students being spoon-fed the information for the reading, I started agreeing with you. From what I have learned in the READ 411 course, I think that the human contact IS indeed an extremely important factor in learning how to read. I think that the Leapfrog program is not teaching the students how to figure out an unknown word by themselves, which is then marring their chances of becoming an "independent struggling reader" which is what they should be striving to be. As the students grow older, they will not always be able to just click on a word and have it be pronounced for them so I completely agree that this program may indeed be harming the student's learning, not improving it!
ReplyDelete