• Should schools make students use pen and paper, or issue them with laptops?
    91 replies, posted
In my old high school, you're allowed to take voice recorded notes and type on a laptop. But it looks awkward as hell. So nobody does it.
[QUOTE=Unsmart;32944177]Personally, I find it very hard to stare into a monitor for 7+ hours. I cant imagine using a laptop at school, and playing games/studying on my PC after school, that would fuck up any kids eyes. [/QUOTE] What's really the difference though between staring at a book and staring at a computer screen. Or staring at a chalkboard/whiteboard vs staring at a "Smart Board". It's important to take breaks with either of those options. No one should be looking at a monitor for 7+ hours. [quote]As for fucking around: my school consists of mostly braindead retards that dont give two shits about school. All they would do is play games, no matter how much you would restrict it. If I was them, I'd spend hours trying to figure out how to play games on it, and there always is a way. [/quote] If kids don't want to learn then it won't make a difference what method you're using to teach. What's the difference between kids ignoring the lecture while drawing in their notebooks and kids ignoring the lecture and playing solitaire? They both amount to the same thing, the student isn't paying attention to the lesson, it doesn't really matter what the distraction is. The core problem would be that the lesson isn't engaging/interesting enough for them to care to participate, and that's the problem you need to worry about, not the potential misuses of the tools you're using in the classroom. Making students strictly use pen and paper isn't going to change the fact that their minds are not focused on the lesson and that there is a deeper problem that needs to be addressed. [quote]If all kids knew touch typing and had reasonable WPM count, then I am all for, EXCEPT for math. I think that overuse of technology at math leads to bad habits and strips you of the fundamental concepts: "why learn graphing by hand when you can just use a program?"[/quote] Well the world we live in is shifting to where we don't need old traditional habits as much like writing in cursive and drawing graphs by hand. It would be foolish to not use superior tools that increase our efficiency just for the sake of keeping with old traditions. For example, we don't live in a world where we need to graph out every single thing by hand any more, we have computers to take care of those things. It's not like it's hard to understand the concept of graphing with a computer, it's just another method of doing the same thing. What's the difference between putting an (X,Y) coordinate on a piece of graphing paper or on a computer screen? If anything, I personally would have found it easier to learn graphing on a computer and much less annoying than having to do it on graphing paper. The important thing is that the students understand the core concepts. We should be putting less emphasis on these obsolete methods and be preparing kids for the world of rising technology that they are going to be entering.
[QUOTE=Noble;32945636]What's really the difference though between staring at a book and staring at a computer screen.[/QUOTE] book doesn't have a flickering backlight and [img]http://lh3.ggpht.com/-bNqHY52TMXU/TgGTPWwAqUI/AAAAAAAAAAA/Zce2y93lXCY/s1600/book_400x.jpg[/img] vs [img]http://pocketnow.com/html/portal/news/0000013340//pixels.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=evilking1;32945897]book doesn't have a flickering backlight and[/QUOTE] Well what is the significance of a flickering backlight if the students aren't supposed to be using the screens for 7 hours straight and should be taking breaks to do other things?
Give 'em a nice windows or linux based laptop. I can type far far faster than I can write so it's just more efficient for me.
At my school laptops are assigned to students who prove they can work much better with them but can't bring their own in. If you bring your own laptop in you can use it to type instead of write for most classes. I do that but I tend to not use it for Probability and Statistics though.
My school can't afford to buy toilet paper or soap, while another one (that's SUPPOSED to get the same funding as us) bought iPad 2s for every student and teacher.
Everything should be digital these days. Maybe if I would have had a school provided laptop I wouldn't have had so many teachers who expect you to print shit out. I fucking hate printers. Digital copies of essays and things are much better than the dead tree variants too. As for note taking, I don't take notes so it wouldn't affect me.
[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;32962326]As for note taking, I don't take notes so it wouldn't affect me.[/QUOTE] You don't take notes? Seriously?
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;32923220]Since when do you have to get used to writing?[/QUOTE] You are not born with the ability to write. If you mainly use laptops, then you'll be pretty shit at it by the time the exams come around.
If everyone had to use laptops, it may save them money depending on how much they pay for supplies every year. The problem, though, is that most of them would piss around all day and play games.
[QUOTE=Antdawg;32971362]You don't take notes? Seriously?[/QUOTE] He's probably a sports jock.
I think they should issue students with laptops, I can type 4x as fast on a computer than I can on pen + paper (I can also concentrate more)
I'm fairly certain there is more brain activity required to write on a piece of paper then to just type it down, besides have they ever done a proper study between the test scores of someone who took notes via paper and took notes via laptop?
Too much room for cheating if you give a student a laptop.
[QUOTE=Canuhearmenow;32995430]I'm fairly certain there is more brain activity required to write on a piece of paper then to just type it down, besides have they ever done a proper study between the test scores of someone who took notes via paper and took notes via laptop?[/QUOTE] Sure, because drawing curves naturally requires more activity than pressing a button. But remembering shit, i don't think that changes anything. When I type I remember the shit often but if I write it, chances are I won't. It's really a preference. All your memory is used up drawing the curves and you can't remember anymore. Instead of thinking what you're writing, you're writing as fast as you can because curves take longer than button presses.
If you write so much on a paper you can't focus on the things being taught, chances are you are just writing meaningless bullshit down. It's called "taking notes" for a reason, instead of "copying slides"
[QUOTE=evilking1;32998689]If you write so much on a paper you can't focus on the things being taught, chances are you are just writing meaningless bullshit down. It's called "taking notes" for a reason, instead of "copying slides"[/QUOTE] What difference does it make if I take notes on a pc or on paper? NONE
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;32998797]What difference does it make if I take notes on a pc or on paper? NONE[/QUOTE] Ok that's a cool thing to hear.
I should not be trusted with a laptop in-front of an entire class of people with laptops. Besides, I would install Linux, which the school would not want me to do for obvious reasons. Filters are just too easy to bypass, and if they have restrictive software on the computer, reinstall OSes it is! There is just no way to make it so that people could be provided with only educational stuff. Children by nature are very impulsive, and they will often go for immediate pleasure than long term pleasure. It would be awesome, though.
[QUOTE=Recombobulator;32999443]I should not be trusted with a laptop in-front of an entire class of people with laptops. Besides, I would install Linux, which the school would not want me to do for obvious reasons. Filters are just too easy to bypass, and if they have restrictive software on the computer, reinstall OSes it is! There is just no way to make it so that people could be provided with only educational stuff. Children by nature are very impulsive, and they will often go for immediate pleasure than long term pleasure. It would be awesome, though.[/QUOTE] Children? Are you 5th grade?
I think keeping writing skills up-to-date are important. The Declaration of Independence is still readable to this day, do you have discs that are unreadable? How old are they? Writing is still an invaluable skill, both legally and for record-keeping. Those who have a legitimate reason to need access to a laptop (Writing troubles, learning disabilities, etc) should be given one but I think computers should be on a need-to-use basis at the teacher's discretion. My teacher always gave us the opportunity to type up our essay's on the computers and do as much research as we want, whereas half the test was written questions/multiple choice/true or false. It was a great system and it worked well. I always found myself writing large parts of the essay from memory due to it being easy (Not the exam questions being easy, but it was easier to write what I remember than try and find it on google) and I merely used google as a resource to enhance my knowledge. Writing is a valuable skill. Keep it. [sp]This coming from a guy who's used a computer all his life and types 116 WPM. I can still write Essays by hand fine, and I sometimes enjoy writing by hand. I take notes by hand in my Engl. 170 and Math. 163 Courses.[/sp]
If someone could invent an OS that only let you use stuff like Word and photoshop, and wouldn't let you on the internet until a "Study period", people wouldn't procrastinate as much.
[QUOTE=zedpenguin;33004233]If someone could invent an OS that only let you use stuff like Word and photoshop, and wouldn't let you on the internet until a "Study period", people wouldn't procrastinate as much.[/QUOTE]Then I'd install a linux/windows on it. Fuck writing, why are you forcing me to write if I prefer to type? You like writing and think it's valuable? Good, then write, but why should I? It's like religion, one person thinks it's right and wants to enforce it on everyone. It's not like it will impact you in any way if I won't be able to write properly. I can write fine, but I much rather do it on a computer.
hand writting has the ability to never have a dead battery and it's a very VERY usefull skill while a laptop has a nice lack of paper and everything is usually organized in a very nice way. So no, don't go all pen and paper or full digital, that's stupid as fuck, keep both around because pen and paper will always work, a laptop can fuck up. [editline]28th October 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Te Great Skeeve;32942652]When you have 30 kids in a class and they all have laptops, and they all know alt-tab... Take me for example, I'm a good kid but I still fart around on the computer during class, nobody notices. At all. and, well, we could just install keyloggers... That wouldn't work out very well with privacy protection though.[/QUOTE] actually as a student the school as full right to so much as strip search with with just the slight mental notion of probable thought. Supreme court ruled so, they also have the right to monitor and restrict your ability to use the laptops and such as they are school sponsored objects that could hold the school liable for student actions.
[QUOTE=The one that is;33015900]hand writting has the ability to never have a dead battery and it's a very VERY usefull skill while a laptop has a nice lack of paper and everything is usually organized in a very nice way. So no, don't go all pen and paper or full digital, that's stupid as fuck, keep both around because pen and paper will always work, a laptop can fuck up.[/QUOTE] It's inevitable that technology is going to take over the old methods, even if it's not in our lifetime. You can draw a parallel with pretty much every issue here. What if your laptop battery goes dead? Alright, well what if your pen runs out of ink? What if you run out of paper? There's just two advantages off the top of my head that makes digital technology more reliable the old methods, among several others. Let's not forget, pens and paper were "new technology" at one point in history, too. They aren't totally infallible in every way, just like digital technology isn't. Papers can get lost, burned, torn up, eaten by the dog, just as computer data could possibly get corrupted or hacked. Each method has their downsides and neither is really 100% reliable. You have to look at the benefits and risks of each, and the way I see it, digital technology is far superior in many ways (the examples I listed earlier just being two of many). Pen and paper writing will inevitably become completely obsolete at some point in the future and it's not a change that we should really be afraid of in my opinion.
I believe that if the school has the resources to provide a laptop to all students, or even allow them to bring their own, and just place restrictions on the internet, that they should do that. I am sure a large percentage of students would perform exponentially better on a laptop. I know I work harder on a computer than using a pen and paper.
The student should be given a choice. If they feel that they can get school work done faster and more efficiently then they should allow them to. Although laptops are far more expensive than a pencil/pen and paper and laptops tend to be more distracting.
I would always have preferred to use a laptop for taking notes or composition, because I write slowly, poorly, and get very tired of writing more than simple things. I can type very fast, it looks clean, and I can format everything to my liking. I'm very glad that my 12th grade English teacher let us use PCs for everything. She was very smart, and honestly the best teacher I've ever had, and realized that it's dumb as shit for teachers to be so picky about things such as handwritten drafts/etc.
Take it from a person who uses both in schoolwork. My LA/Social or History teacher let's me use a laptop for notes and other stuff like that. My Science teacher let's me use a laptop for notes. However, for everything else I have to use a pen and paper. Using a laptop, I'm finished WAY sooner than everyone else is, simply because for me typing is faster. I can also actually understand my notes, because my writing is very messy. And yes, when I'm finished I sometimes do a little bit...more than I should on my lappy [I'm looking at you Dawn of War.] But hey, I also study my notes. Now, when I have to use a pen and paper, I don't even finish sometimes, it's really tedious, really messy and my hand hurts after. For some kids, this is reversed. They can write lightning-fast and real neat, but yet they type using one finger, and so they finish slower. I say give them a choice: They can use the standard pen and paper, be issued a laptop for a small fee, or use both [Bring in your own laptop.] [editline]HEY[/editline] My school tosses all sorts of restrictive software on their netbooks. But they're still too stupid to put a BIOS password on them. I booted to Linux once and got suspended. At least now I have my own laptop.
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