Professor Paul Howard-Jones has been speaking out against the banning of these devices in the classroom.
According to Academic, Professor Paul Howard-Jones, banning technology, such as mobile phones, in the classroom is “moving in the wrong direction” and parents should be paying closer attention to the way their children are interacting with other people and with their own tech.
Instead of trying to “demonize” these devices, the professor said it is more important to understand its use.
Howard-Jones cautioned that children are going to continue the use of mobile phones in the classroom regardless of what the rules say. Therefore, he feels it would be much more effective to allow the use and build an understanding of the way these mobile devices are being used by children. He explained that “I share concerns of parents about the effects of leisure technology on sleep and homework and exercise but it’s important that we don’t demonize it completely.”
Instead, Howard-Jones says parents should start looking at the ways their kids are using mobile phones.
These statements about mobile devices were made by the professor at the same time that he released the results of one of his most recent studies, in which he discovered that playing computer games have the potential to boost the concentration levels among students, giving them an improved ability to better their grades. The research indicated that when learning is presented in game format, the mind of a student is less likely to wander, providing an improved ability to study.
Following this research, Howard-Jones said that over the last number of years, computer games have been “trivialized”, but that if they are properly implemented, they could actually help to enhance a student’s ability to learn. He stated that it is more important to understand the ways in which children are using mobile device and the internet. By banning these gadgets in the classroom, it makes it impossible to gain that information.
“We have to accept that technology is part of children’s lives. It isn’t about restricting it but about how they should be using it in a healthy way,” he said, when discussing the real-life implications of the results of his study.
The report on the study was published in the Pediatrics journal. Leading the study was Dr. Hilda Kabali. At the moment, the publisher of the journal, the American Academy of Pediatrics, is recommending that parents eliminate any use of mobile screens among children younger than the age of two. The reason is that there are concerns with regards to the potential impact of these device in delaying a child’s learning of language.