Cue the provocation. ‘The data is wickedly clear that computers don’t help learning. It’s been clear for a while.’ So argues the American cognitive neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath, whose core arguments are based on the notion that classroom technology does not align with learning. At a recent Senate hearing, Cooney Horvath revealed that when we ‘look at the data, once countries adopt digital technology widely in schools, performance goes down significantly.’ He clarifies that it isn’t about ‘scraping computers from schools; it’s about restoring rigour to the classroom.’ These were the provocations we put before teachers at our weekly professional development and learning session, with the intended outcome of restoring a healthier balance between analogue and digital practices in the classroom.
In his written testimony to the US Senate, Cooney Horvath stated that Generation Z is the first to underperform the previous generation on every cognitive measure, including attention, memory, literacy, and numeracy. He asked rhetorically, what happened around 2010 that decoupled schooling from cognitive development? His answer: The tools we are using in schools to drive learning. He is referring to the wide-scale adoption of digital technologies in the classroom.
In his written testimony to the US Senate, Cooney Horvath said that it is:
‘...not a question of teacher quality, student motivation, or access to devices. It reflects a structural mismatch between how human cognition develops and how digital platforms are engineered to capture attention, fragment focus, and accelerate task switching. Human attention systems evolved to sustain focus on a single task at a time. When attention is repeatedly interrupted, three predictable costs emerge:
Time loss from task switching overhead.
Higher error rates from cognitive interference
Weaker memory formation as learning shifts from deep encoding toward habit-based processing.’
You can watch Cooney Horvath’s presentation to the Senate Committee here
We’re not about pendulum swings at John McGlashan, something education unfortunately has a tendency to do, particularly as we experience the differing positions and policies of changing governments. I believe in balance and being evidence-informed in the decisions that we make about our approaches to learning. The noise of external debates and changing narratives creates pressure for schools. It’s important we buffer out the noise and find the way that best suits our context. It’s also important that we base our decisions on the science of learning, which tells us how brains learn best. As with our ongoing focus on strengthening classroom practices and the classroom management reset, this is where we look to inform our pedagogical approaches to learner habits.
One of my observations over the past few years is that we have gone too far down the technology route, which is why Jared Cooney Horvath’s presentation to the Senate Committee chimed for me. While he is talking about the American context in his address to the Senate, New Zealand’s young people have some of the highest rates of screen use in the world, spending an average of six hours each day using screens at home and in the classroom (PISA, 2018).
This data was referenced in an article about a recent study that we shared with staff before the PLD session on Wednesday. You can read it here. It summarises a recent New Zealand study and makes reference to how devices are used, who uses them, how often they are used, and how they affect learning outcomes. The article concludes that an ‘evidence-based, purposeful and balanced use of digital tools for learning could help students maximise the opportunities they present. This is the position we are taking as we look to reset our use of technology in the classroom.
During the PLD session, we asked staff to think about the role devices currently play in their classroom: either as a tool, a distraction, or a necessity. Putting the obvious problem of devices as a distraction to the side, we focused more on the contrasting influences of analogue and technology on deeper learning and retention of that learning.
Studies show recall and retention differ depending on whether students write by hand, type, or use mobile devices. (Lee, 2021). Handwriting involves motor movement, visual processing, and cognition. This creates stronger brain connections and encoding of information (Ihara et al 2021). Typing becomes faster than handwriting over time, but speed can reduce the time spent thinking and processing (Weigelt & Weintraub, 2018). The research generally recommends the use of devices for creation, access, collaboration, and pen & paper for thinking, processing, and memory.
We talked about our shared approach being not about removing the use of devices, rather using them where they add value, and removing them where they replace thinking. To that end, we worked in learning areas to redesign certain tasks where devices are being used to better balance device use, pen and paper, and deep thinking. I commend our teachers for the way in which they leaned into the provocations and subsequent discussions and planning with openness and curiosity. The session provided the space for us to talk about something that many of us had been thinking about for some time.
Cooney Horvath comments framed our position as we exited the PLD session and returned to our classrooms:
…This is not a debate about rejecting technology. It is a question of aligning educational tools with how human learning actually works.
Our value of Excellence presents the non-negotiable of striving for growth, curiosity, discipline, and the pursuit of our potential. This is who our students are at their natural best. It is incumbent on us to ensure they are provided with the conditions necessary to live this. Key to that is remaining open and curious to different ways of thinking and doing things, and when called upon to question the prevailing narrative, to lean into that challenge with courage, remembering that our young people are at the centre of all that we do. To that end, the conversation about restoring balance to the way we are using devices in the classroom was well overdue.
Dr. Aaron Columbus
Principal | Tumuaki
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