Students that have the opportunity to have one-to-one computing may have success in literacy and writing skills. According to the text, at many schools it is an issue when it comes to funding. Many extracurricular activities are being cut due to buying technology that will also be beneficial to the students. It's very important for students to sit and use pencil and paper, yet technology is rapidly growing and becoming an essential to our daily lives.
1.
Provide
the complete article title and author
This article is
entitled:” Laptops and Fourth-Grade
Literacy: Assisting the Jump over the
Fourth-Grade Slump.” It was written by Kurt
A. Suhr, David A. Hernandez, Douglas
Grimes, & Mark Warschauer.
2.
State
the intended audience. (What is empirical research and how does it help the classroom?)
The intended audience
for this article could range from parent, to staff members, and
principals. There are many different
audiences that could benefit from this article.
Parents could greatly benefit in this article. It displays how students could benefit from
working with this type of technology.
The school’s reading coach could also benefit greatly. The artcile
states that when students reach fouth grade, they have that slump where they
lose interest.
The empirical
reasearch was very clear and in depth in this article. The empirical reseach was based off
observation and investigation for many years. Some school districts are still trying
to figure out when to bring technology into place. Technology is growing rapidly. Technology is beginning to make thing in life
easier and more convenient.
3.
What
is/are the research question/questions or hypothesis/hypotheses? According to
the article the hypothesis is will those fourth grade students that
participated in the one-to-one laptop program have more success than those
participating in the traditional learning program?”
4.
Describe
the subject (participants) and the procedures (methods) used by the
researcher(s)?
There were 108 fourth
grade participants. The participants
were broken down into two categories. The two groups were the control group and
the treatment group. According to the selection both groups comprised students
from four different classes, and each group had a different set of teachers
each year. The participants were 47% Hispanic, 28% White, 20% Asian, and 5%
other/multi-ethnic/unstated. Economic and linguistic backgrounds are also
diverse; 27% of the students are English Language Learners (ELLs), and in spite
of pockets of affluence, 40% participate in the free or reduced-price lunch
program. The
controlled group were (laptop) were not
supplied with personal laptop on a daily bases
at school. They were granted varying degrees of computer access. This not
only included the personal laptop, desktop computers, computer labs,
and mobile laptops. According to
the article, as the students aged, the amount of access increased slightly due
to greater availability of mobile carts, and etc. (p. 14) The treatment group went through the same
process.
5.
What
were the conclusions of the researchers? Do you agree or disagree with the
conclusions? Support your position.
Researcher concluded
that laptop students outperformed non-laptop student. The areas that the students did the best in were
writing strategies and literary response and analysis.(p.28) I agree with the conclusion. Many students at that grade level are more
focused learning to write. The internet
and access to a computer in general can help students strengthen their
vocabulary skills as well as their writing skills. Computers are equipped with many programs
that can help with spell check. There
are various websites that will give students insight on how to structure their
writing skills. The students are also
gaining literacy by reading and comprehending the information that’s given. There are so many websites out that will give
students practice on literacy skills.
6.
What
suggestions for further research do the authors suggest? What other suggestions
for future research would you suggest?
According to the
text, a major question of many administrators when considering this or any
other educational intervention is the effect it may have on standardized test
scores. I suggest the obsevation to be
prolonged. Testing beyond fouth grade
should be considered. Many middle and
highschool students encounter literacy and writing skills in their
academics. There are various test that
are give through the school year. There
was a wide variety of students being tested, but chances are children that are
not in a low socioeconomic status has a greater opportunity to work with
technology. Many schools do not have the
funding to have technology. According to
Roblyer and Doering one-to one computing will give students of all status an
opportunity to use and gain knowledge such as literacy and writing skills.
When it comes to
technology many teachers often disagree.
According to the chapter many teachers disagree when it comes to distant
learning and using the internet. Teachers
are afraid that many studnts will not be able to grasp the concept. (Roblyer,M.
Doering, A. p.17)
Technology is
becoming a very essential part of our lives.
There are various types of funding that will allow each individual child
to have a laptop in class. The students
will be able to learn how to use the laptop as well as become more
knowledgeable of a subject matter.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/02/16/11-programs-only-as-good-as-their-teachers/
