Screens & Text books in schools

For years, Ontario schools have been told that more technology means better learning. More smart boards. More Chromebooks. More tablets. More Google Classroom. More time in front of a screen.

But parents and teachers are starting to ask a simple question:

What if we got this wrong?

Children today are surrounded by screens from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to bed. They use them at home. They use them on the bus. They use them during recess, after school and late into the night.

School used to be one of the few places where children could step away from the digital world. Now, for many students, school is simply one more screen.

A lesson on a smart board. An assignment on a Chromebook. A video on YouTube. A worksheet uploaded online, instead of printed on paper.

And when children struggle to focus, read or sit still, we act surprised.

We cannot keep flooding children with more screens, more noise and more distraction, and then wonder why they are overstimulated and unable to focus.

Other countries are beginning to realize that.

Sweden, once seen as one of the most technology-driven education systems in the world, is moving back towards textbooks, handwriting and printed materials after concerns about declining reading and attention spans.

Denmark is doing the same.

They tried more screens. They looked at the results. And they changed course.

That does not mean banning technology entirely.

Students still need to learn how to use computers. They need digital skills. They need to know how to navigate the modern world.

But there is a difference between teaching technology, and replacing teaching with technology.

A textbook does not send notifications. A worksheet does not tempt a child to click away. A novel on paper does not compete with another tab, game or video.

Research shows that students remember more when they read on paper. They are more likely to absorb information, stay focused and understand what they are reading.

Paper slows students down in the best possible way. It gives them time to think.

There is also something important about the physical act of writing.

Taking notes by hand, underlining a passage, circling an idea in the margin, turning the page and seeing your progress. Those are not old-fashioned habits. They are part of how people learn and they work.

For too long, governments have treated classrooms like technology showrooms. They announce another round of devices and call it progress.

But progress is not giving every child a screen. Progress is making sure that every child can read, focus, think and learn.

If that means more textbooks, more paper and fewer screens in the classroom, maybe the old way was not so outdated after all.

Let’s have a comprehensive review of technology in the classroom

MPP Stephen Blais, Orléans, asked the Minister of Education if he would conduct a comprehensive review of technology in our classrooms and learn from European examples by reducing screen dependence and transition back to paper based textbooks.