Norwich Bulletin: One thing at a time may be best route to real learning

Article published Mar 4, 2007
Column: One thing at a time may be best route to real learning
By JERRY LAMB
For the Norwich Bulletin
If you have teenagers in your home as we do, just walk into their room while they are "studying." Odds are, in betting terms the young understand better than algebra, better than 5 to 1 they are doing more than just paying attention to their textbook. The TV is on, the cell phone is ringing, IMs are flying, Facebook is open on the computer, and the textbook is actually there also. Teens are adept at multitasking, but are they learning anything?

Technology has provided the means to go beyond yesterday's passive TV viewing or music listening; cell phones, IM programs, text messaging and the Internet allow them to do electronic multitasking with ease and dispatch. That teens' attention spans are short is obvious from music videos, but is it detrimental to learning if they flit from item to item while studying? The Washington Post in its Feb. 26 article, "Teens Can Multitask, But What Are The Costs?" explores that question. The answer is equivocal, depending on which expert and which aspect you explore. Some say multitasking prepares them for the real world where e-mail, bosses and desk work constantly vie for the white-collar employee's attention. Others say failure to focus lessens the depth of knowledge the student achieves. As one expert says in the article, "While multitasking makes them feel like they are being more efficient, research suggests that there is little you can do ... that you can be as good at when you are not multitasking."

No satisfying answers

As usual, the social scientists, and I am one, can't give an answer that satisfies. Are there more objective data that can shed some light? What better place to find out than the Nation's Report Card issued by the U.S. Department of Education? Its report on high school achievement, "America's High School Graduates: Results from the 2005 NAEP High School Transcript Study" (nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/studies/2007467.pdf) is heartening. Analyzing a sample of transcripts from about 1 percent of high school graduates, the report found grade point averages were up to 2.98 (out of 4.00) where the 1990 graduates had a 2.68 GPA. Also, students were taking about 3 more credits during high school than the 1990 students.

However, apparently, it is the girls who are helping make up the difference. Females have always scored higher than males on tests, but now they are taking a more rigorous curriculum than their male counterparts, a change from 1990. Students are also taking more Advanced Placement courses. Unsurprisingly, those taking harder courses or with a higher GPA did better on the National Assessment of Educational Progress achievement tests. Hooray for our educational system.

Inflated grading

Hold the accolades. Apparently, the cost of living isn't the only thing being inflated these days. When called upon to demonstrate what they had learned, today's graduates just couldn't cut it compared to earlier graduates. The other report card, "12th-Grade Reading and Mathematics 2005," (nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/main2005/2007468.pdf) shows reading scores declined significantly from 1992 to 2005, and the gender gap widened. At least, the students were able to read somewhat; they simply cannot do math. Less than 25 percent are proficient in math. (No comparison with earlier years was possible since they had changed the exam). Apparently their curriculum is dumbed down and grades are inflated; remember all the students in Lake Woebegone are above average.

Nor is it a recent 15-year drop. Time Magazine in 1975 (www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879482,00.html) reported 1973 students had lower science scores than their 1970 counterparts and reading levels had declined steadily since the 1960s. The combined reports are pretty terrifying news for a nation whose dominance in innovation and technology is critical in this economically flattened world.

Blaming technology

Should parents rush to cut the electronic umbilical cord? After all, the decline of American education since the space race coincides with the rise of technology. Maybe that would help their children focus and learn more as the research suggests. But the real culprit is we are still teaching our progeny as if they were 1870s farm children. Despite computers littering the classroom, schools still emphasize rote memorization of facts, rather than teaching underlying principles. Facts are available at your fingertips in the Internet age (note all my references are URLs), but understanding takes work. We also pile on enough homework to make our children sleep deprived and turn parents into second-shift teachers, although research indicates it doesn't help learning (www.wsj.com/article_print/SB116916665114080897.html, Jan. 19).

Knowing how the Periodic Table is constructed is much more important than knowing all the elements' atomic numbers. Understanding concepts and how to integrate them into real-world solutions is what will keep the United States in the front of the economic race. That is the single task we need to focus on.