Impact of Screen Time on Development and Learning

From a newly released report by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Alliance for Childhood.

Conclusion

More independent research is needed on the impact of screen technologies on young children. But whether you believe that early childhood settings should include screen time or not, there is enough evidence to draw these conclusions:

Many young children are spending too much time with screens at the expense of other important activities. There’s no evidence that screen time is educational for infants and toddlers, and there is some evidence that it may be harmful. Some carefully monitored experience with quality content can benefit children over 3.



But what’s most important for children is lots of time for hands-on creative and active play, time in nature, and face-to-face interactions with caring adults. And, regardless of content, excessive screen time harms healthy growth and development.

Based on the available research, ...this guide contain[s] practical information and suggestions for making your own decisions about using screen technologies with young children.

Access the report below

Facing the Screen Dilemma: Young Children, Technology and Early Education

A Facebook page has been set up devoted to discussing the ideas in Facing the Screen Dilemma.  Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood

Why are Finnish children smarter?

Some thoughts on why it may be that Finnish kids  score high on the PISA tests.  Even if you do not understand German, this 14 minute clip is interesting to watch. Read my loosely translated summary below. Click on the link to view the video.

• Why are Finnish children smarter than German ones?

Shortly before a Finnish child is born, the mother receives a big box from KELA, the agency of social security benefits for all residents of Finland, filled with all the things she will need for her baby in the first weeks.  If she prefers, she can receive about 14o Euros ($170) in cash but the contents of the box is worth at least twice that amount.

Each child is entitled to a Kita spot (German abbreviation for Kindertagesstätte) or Early Childhood Daycare which in Finland is also available around the clock. Municipalities provide slots and hours according to what parents need. These days in Finland there are many more single parents who rely on the availability of high quality day care for which they pay according to income. The facilities are also open on weekends and during school vacations and allow parents to work non traditional hours.

It's an expensive investment to provide extensive Early Childhood care but the government realizes that it would be much more costly in the end if children would not get proper early care. Providing high quality preschool and kindergarten learning pays off for Finland on PISA scores. They rank first, Germany thirteen.

However, looking at the 2009 average PISA scores on page 8,  the results look like this:

Finland - 2

Germany - 16

U.S. - 15

The U.S. ranks in the middle, but so do Netherlands, Belgium Norway, Estonia, Switzerland, Poland, and Iceland with marginally more points, and Sweden, Germany, Ireland, France, Denmark, United Kingdom, and Hungary with marginally fewer points.

In Finland kids stay grouped together until 9th grade, and before class starts, they exchange shoes for indoor slippers.  I wonder if that may add some sense of comfort and being at ease that facilitates learning. Even the teachers enjoy comfort in teacher lounges that resemble those set aside for business travelers in airports. No doubt all this contributes to a good PISA score and ranking.

Perhaps more important is the fact that many of the smartest students choose to become teachers, but for  every ten applicants  only one will get a slot. To teach in Finland, even in kindergarten, a Master's degree is required and only those who can also inspire  students will be hired.

Teachers earn between two and three thousand  Euros a month, less than what plumbers make, but they are satisfied because the occupation is one that is highly regarded and they are appreciated,  and if that is not enough motivation, surely the ten weeks of summer vacation are a nice incentive. Teachers also have great autonomy. Even though there's a national curriculum which dictates what children should learn, all teachers are free in deciding of how they will teach it. They can be as creative as they like.  "Creative teachers, another plus for the Finns on PISA".

The Finns spend more on education than the Germans and have more than double the number of kids who graduate high school. Finland also takes equitable learning opportunities seriously. Kids who struggle get  specialized help. Another thing about Finnish children is that they are tenacious. The number of students who do not finish their PISA test is the lowest of all countries.

"The other kids are perhaps just as talented as ours and not any less educated, but they give up more easily. Ours go on to complete the test. The kid who gives up and does not put down an answer, automatically scores lower. The one who tries, still has a chance".

"In December the new PISA scores come out and no doubt Finland will take top honors again, thanks to highly educated teachers but perhaps too, thanks to the  Kela Baby Box, or the Kita system, or because the kids wear house slippers in school, or learn early on to neatly line up. "

• PISA comparisons among nations

U.S. best practices used in Dutch schools!

Veteran Colorado teacher Vicki Heisler shares this memory  from 2000; before NCLB was enacted!

".. I will always remember.. friends from The Netherlands talking with me about how foolish our education system was not to adopt the recommendations of our professional associations into our classrooms. They made it clear that the Dutch schools were using these best practices in their own schools successfully.

Now I understand that the Dutch may be following the market-driven practices which are crippling our children. I hope this is NOT true.

Our system is destroying young minds rather than nurturing them. We claim to celebrate diversity, but measure standardization. Without creativity and innovation, what will our future look like--a nation of mindless hyper consumers dependent upon others for every thought?"

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Read here about her using primary sources from the Library of Congress to support effective instructional practices:  http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/quarterly/elementary/spotlight.html

 

PISA study: Students benefit from pre-primary education

Angela Engel, director of Uniting4Kids says that expanding the state preschool program, rather than approving a controversial bill, would do more to advance early literacy. Read her commentary "A better path to literacy".

She is correct! So why do policy makers not care about what research studies reveal? Not even those done by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which administers the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), that the U.S. tries so hard to improve its standing in?

In their report, "Does participation in pre-primary education translate into better learning outcomes at school?" they state:

 “It’s elementary: students benefit from pre-primary education. The OECD’s PISA 2009 results show that in practically all OECD countries 15-year-old students who had attended some pre-primary school outperformed students who had not.

In fact, the difference between students who had attended for more than one year and those who had not attended at all averaged 54 score points in the PISA reading assessment – or more than one year of formal schooling (39 score points). While most students who had attended pre-primary education had come from advantaged backgrounds, the performance gap remains even when comparing students from similar backgrounds. After accounting for socio-economic background, students who had attended pre-primary school scored an average of 33 points higher than those who had not.”

Democracy is a fine line

Perhaps it is a good idea for anyone with a compassion for kids, even for those outside of Colorado, to send a brief email to all those who voted against the Parental Opt-Out bill, to let them know how disappointing their decision is. (See names and contact info below) It is one easy way to take action, to help enlighten them on the absurdity and harmfulness of high-stakes testing.

"Republicans, who have claimed education choice as their platform, voted against parental rights. It is unfortunate for the citizens of Colorado that they are selective in their application of "small government." The vote on the parental rights bill illustrates that Republicans are willing to impose government will, so long as it is their own. Colorado was granted a waiver from No Child Left Behind and federal mandates on the same day that parents were denied. Democracy is a fine line" ~ Angela Engel (Uniting4Kids)


Watch this excellent testimony by parents:

Parental Rights Bill 12-1049

And also read this great commentary by John Young on:

Opting out of standardized testing

Here are all the five Republican nay sayers:

Copy all and paste in your email header.

randy.baumgardner.house@state.co.us
larry.liston.house@state.co.us
don.coram.house@state.co.us
mark.waller.house@state.co.us
james.kerr.house@state.co.us

iPads ~ Causing Intellectual Devolution

Trying to find what Jane M. Healy, author of "Endangered Minds" would have to say about the harm that digital devices have on young children, I came across this Blog Post "Gadgets Are the Root of All Evil ~ NOT!" and felt the need to respond with this:


I feel like you use Sesame Street as a straw man to distract from computers, and now easily accessible portable gadgets like the iPad, that are much more harmful. Watching Sesame Street is a much slower paced activity than games played on the computer.

You talk about balance, but from what age on? Harmful digital distractions should be kept at a minimum during the early years when the brain is developing. It is best to not subject babies and toddlers to any of it.

"..Research psychologist Jane Healy, author of Endangered Minds, recommends that children remain TV-free well into elementary school."

Take a look at this video (18 month old IPad Genius) of a girl doing spelling "work" on an iPad. Now that is definitely harmful.

You said,

"I wouldn’t suggest hampering your children, by NOT encouraging them to learn new technologies. To do so could reduce their future chances of success in modern life. There are so many good applications of new technologies; they far outweigh the bad."

If you let a child learn through appropriate developmental activities, that child will be intelligent enough to catch on to any electronic tool later on. Besides, it is high time for society to redefine success. Look where focus on material success has gotten us! If we want a more compassionate and just society, kids in preschool and kindergarten need to play with real toys and with each other instead of using computers and iPads.

DigiKids will have a hard time with slow activities like reading, and thinking; still the pathway to wisdom.

Here is a good interview with Matt Damon's mom, an early childhood professor, about The Disastrous Impact of Education reform on Young Children.

Schools in the Plastic Age

Welcome to the PC  (Plastic and Computer) Age kindergarten where kids no longer play.

(Phot0: Denver Post,  Jan. 17, 2012; a kindergarten class at the Ricardo Flores Magon Academy K-8 charter school in Westminster.)

Standardized test scores say nothing about a student's creative ability or potential. If curriculum focuses on prescribed skills, that is what students will learn, but nothing beyond. If kids are taught to read by means of a rigid script and in a lock-step curriculum, they will not be able to stretch their minds beyond the script or facts taught.

If children in kindergarten are not allowed to play and socialize, they will not function well in 21st Century jobs because they'll lack the imagination to come up with innovations, and the skills to work together. Schools will turn out uncaring individuals who will speed up the destruction of the natural world instead of saving it.

How many people today know about the dangers of plastic particles that are now a permanent part of our environment, and even our bodies? How many adults unthinkingly heat up food in plastic containers? Do you? Even Gerber now puts baby food in plastic jars!

Paula Johanson in her book for teens,  Frequently Asked Questions About Testicular Cancer, writes:

"...there is "a significant elevated risk of testicular cancer..linked to exposure to polyvinyl chloride.. and other "plastic" materials that release estrogen-mimic chemicals into food and water."

Why is it that we are not made aware of the poisoning of ourselves and our children?  Our own education did not help us prevent it. Back then too little was known. That is different now, yet schools still do not teach how to deal with, and survive a poisoned world!

Corporations, of course, don't want people to become knowledgeable about the negative impact and even damage that many of their products pose on people and the environment . As Edward Luttwak remarks in his book, Turbo-Capitalism; Winners and Losers in the Global Economy,

"Corporations are not moral entities. They exist to make a profit."

Indeed, with  No Child Left Behind-- initiated by the Business Roundtable-- schools were coerced into testing students to hold schools accountable for receiving education money. If test scores were low, rigid improvement measures were forced upon them.  Profits for textbook and test publishers soared! McGraw-Hill alone saw an increase from 50 million dollars in 2002 when NCLB was just enacted, to 300 million dollars by 2009.

As long as corporations implicitly dictate what and how schools should teach, we can never have quality education. Children will not be taught to think critically and to question, but instead will be molded into the corporations' future workforce and consumers who will mindlessly continue to poison the environment. Schools still drill and test, rather than develop understanding of the importance of sustainable living. As one teacher shared in a survey,

"We need to get our kids to care, because these are the issues that they will be dealing with for the rest of their lives."

Are we?

Watch this six minute clip:

12-year-old Severn Suzuki speaking at the Rio Earth Summit

Of note also:

• The dangers of 'Microwave Safe' plastic containers


• The Documentary Plastic Planet (Check with your public library)


• Severn Suzuki today, 20 years later: Call to Action for Earth Summit 2012