Distractions Are Us, Progress Tells Us So!

A friend posted this article from the Nov. 1, NYT to his Facebook page the other day: "Technology Is Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say."

I'll note that "a version" of this was published as "For Better and for Worse, Technology Use Alters Learning Styles, Teachers Say" in the print edition.  You decide if the web gurus who apply an "SEO" praxis to headlines worked some sticky magic.

Of course, both headlines are full of ambiguities and assumptions.  Just look at the assumption that must be made to presume the reader knows what is being "meant" by the word "technology."

I think though that my favorite headline trick is the "tack-on" to both: "teachers say."

But, it's not a tack-on really, it's the whole story.  This piece purports to describe a "teacher's-eye-view" of how "generally" the fact that the world is full of the "categorically" labeled digital information devices (from computers to handheld gaming devices to Kindle Fires to iPads to Xboxes and so on) and  that kids spend more time "in front of them" than they do in school on a daily basis is both "bad and good" as regards that mythical beast "learning."

A shocking assertion of ambivalence!

But, it must be admitted that the times and "minds" (whatever that means) they are a'changin'; the world, due to its spherical nature and its gravitational response to the sun, turns, or so I'm told.

What I wanted to posit is the intention of the piece: As the ground of our being has shifted, currently, to an electronically digital "self" (please feel free to spend time slogging through the "philosophical" literature asserting our digital accoutrements are ACTUALLY extensions of our brains and so are "a part of us"), teachers have become, are, barriers to the "new learning" in this phase of humanity.

Kristen Purcell, the associate director for research at Pew, acknowledged that the findings could be viewed from another perspective: that the education system must adjust to better accommodate the way students learn, a point that some teachers brought up in focus groups themselves.

“What we’re labeling as ‘distraction,’ some see as a failure of adults to see how these kids process information,” Ms. Purcell said. “They’re not saying distraction is good but that the label of ‘distraction’ is a judgment of this generation.”

What we have here is a failure to communicate!  Er, rather, what we have here is a re-adjustment bureau proposition.  Kristen Purcell has given us the "truth" of this piece--brains are changing, if you label it appropriately then it's all good.  And that is indeed the truth of culture.  Silly teachers and other "adults" can't see this is how the new brain processes information!  Is that all we mean by "think" these days?

And, as is usual, the "blame" (though it must be admitted at some point that we all approve of the change or at least tacitly accept it as human "progress," quoth the blogger), aimed so wonderfully by this "news item" so as to come from a teacher's mouth, is put upon parents.

“They need skills that are different than ‘Spit, spit, there’s the answer,’ ” said Lisa Baldwin, 48, a high school teacher in Great Barrington, Mass., who said students’ ability to focus and fight through academic challenges was suffering an “exponential decline.” She said she saw the decline most sharply in students whose parents allowed unfettered access to television, phones, iPads and video games.

I knew it was the less-than-rugged individual who was to blame (accept it, shirker) rather than the juggernaut of commercial culture that promotes and sells (requires!) brain extensions to be applied in all aspects of life (there's an app for that!).  Permissive fools, you've let us be successful in our one-sided onslaught!  Here's an interesting aside: I'm pretty sure that our public libraries are now community electronic extensions of "indigent" brains.  Heck, you can't seek/find/apply for work anymore unless you do it online.

All of this is meaningless of course.  The plough changed the world--did it change brains?  Probably.  We are our behaviors.  We are immersed in the this new world order.  Don't like it, there's always Africa...unless Gates has already "wirelessed" it...Mountains in Central America?

But I'll admit that the article (which, come now, we must see as simply an editorial in the guise of "reportage") does end with what I find the "last laugh" of the old brain, our Christian culture.  (Can the Lord be properly identified if He returns pixelated?)

Dr. Dimitri Christakis, who studies the impact of technology on the brain...[says] [h]is own research shows what happens to attention and focus in mice when they undergo the equivalent of heavy digital stimulation. Students saturated by entertainment media, he said, were experiencing a “supernatural” stimulation that teachers might have to keep up with or simulate.

The heavy technology use, Dr. Christakis said, “makes reality by comparison uninteresting.”

Ah, the unreality of supernatural stimulation...this is truly the deux ex machina.

At some point we'll be forced to ask, is the machine the extension of "self," or is the organic material we  label "the body" the extension?  That chicken!  That egg!

Quick, look it up at the Wikipedia surely it knows and can tell us and put us at ease.

Why Play Comes Naturally and KIPP Doesn't

The segregated KIPP brainwashing camps for poor children see recess as an intrusion to their constant control of each child's directed attention, all focused on the Feinberg-Levin point at a distant horizon that requires each child to give up his childhood if she is to have any chance of getting there. What old and new research tells us is that such play-scrubbed children as the KIPPsters have less of a chance to be high-performing and functional adults--if you mean by "functional" the ability to discern differences, solve problems, and navigate hierarchies. But then if you are looking to build drones . . .

From the NYTimes by Tara Parker-Pope:

The best way to improve children’s performance in the classroom may be to take them out of it.

New research suggests that play and down time may be as important to a child’s academic experience as reading, science and math, and that regular recess, fitness or nature time can influence behavior, concentration and even grades.

A study published this month in the journal Pediatrics studied the links between recess and classroom behavior among about 11,000 children age 8 and 9. Those who had more than 15 minutes of recess a day showed better behavior in class than those who had little or none. Although disadvantaged children were more likely to be denied recess, the association between better behavior and recess time held up even after researchers controlled for a number of variables, including sex, ethnicity, public or private school and class size.

The lead researcher, Dr. Romina M. Barros, a pediatrician and an assistant clinical professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said the findings were important because many schools did not view recess as essential to education.

And many children are not getting that break. In the Pediatrics study, 30 percent were found to have little or no daily recess. Another report, from a children’s advocacy group, found that 40 percent of schools surveyed had cut back at least one daily recess period.

Also, teachers often punish children by taking away recess privileges. That strikes Dr. Barros as illogical. “Recess should be part of the curriculum,” she said. “You don’t punish a kid by having them miss math class, so kids shouldn’t be punished by not getting recess.”

Last month, Harvard researchers reported in The Journal of School Health that the more physical fitness tests children passed, the better they did on academic tests. The study, of 1,800 middle school students, suggests that children can benefit academically from physical activity during gym class and recess.

A small study of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder last year found that walks outdoors appeared to improve scores on tests of attention and concentration. Notably, children who took walks in natural settings did better than those who walked in urban areas, according to the report, published online in August in The Journal of Attention Disorders. The researchers found that a dose of nature worked as well as a dose of medication to improve concentration, or even better.

Andrea Faber Taylor, a child environment and behavior researcher at the Landscape and Human Health Laboratory at the University of Illinois, says other research suggests that all children, not just those with attention problems, can benefit from spending time in nature during the school day. In another study of children who live in public housing, girls who had access to green courtyards scored better on concentration tests than those who did not.

The reason may be that the brain uses two forms of attention. “Directed” attention allows us to concentrate on work, reading and tests, while “involuntary” attention takes over when we’re distracted by things like running water, crying babies, a beautiful view or a pet that crawls onto our lap.

Directed attention is a limited resource. Long hours in front of a computer or studying for a test can leave us feeling fatigued. But spending time in natural settings appears to activate involuntary attention, giving the brain’s directed attention time to rest.

“It’s pretty clear that all human beings experience attentional fatigue,” Dr. Faber Taylor said. “Our attention has to be restored from that fatigue, and there is a growing body of research evidence that nature is one way that seems particularly effective at doing it.”

Playtime and nature time are important not only for learning but also for health and development.

Young rats denied opportunities for rough-and-tumble play develop numerous social problems in adulthood. They fail to recognize social cues and the nuances of rat hierarchy; they aren’t able to mate. By the same token, people who play as children “learn to handle life in a much more resilient and vital way,” said Dr. Stuart Brown, the author of the new book “Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul” (Avery).

Dr. Brown, a psychiatrist in Carmel Valley, Calif., has collected more than 6,000 “play histories” from human subjects. The founder of the National Institute for Play, he works with educators and legislators to promote the importance of preserving playtime in schools. He calls play “a fundamental biological process.” “From my viewpoint, it’s a major public health issue,” he said. “Teachers feel like they’re under huge pressures to get academic excellence to the exclusion of having much fun in the classroom. But playful learning leads to better academic success than the skills-and-drills approach.”