Pupils ditch Wikipedia... for good old local library
THEY are the first generation born and raised in a digital world, where a vast array of knowledge on any given subject can be accessed by simply tapping a screen.
But one school is taking steps to wean primary pupils off their tablets and smartphones amid fears the demise of textbooks is damaging their ability to learn.
Children at Kelvinside Academy’s Junior School in Glasgow embarked upon independent research projects as part of a scheme aimed at boosting critical thinking and analytical skills. In a project overseen by University of Glasgow academics, the pupils were urged to visit libraries rather than ‘cutting and pasting’ from websites such as Wikipedia.
Researchers found that when the internet was not available, the Primary 6 students ‘exceeded all expectations’ in the standard of research produced from traditional sources.
The children were first visited by academic psychologists, who discussed their own work to teach them about traditional fact-finding, ethics and framing research questions. They were then asked to pursue their own research projects.
Dr Niamh Stack, senior lecturer at the university’s School of Psychol- ogy, said: ‘The more you have to engage with the material and the more active the learning is, the more embedded your understanding of a concept will be. If you just have to cut and paste from a website the depth of learning and critical thinking is more limited.
‘Independence, autonomy and the ability to control learning experiences can be powerful in inspiring motivation and academic engagement but the pupils exceeded all expectations in this project.’
The project was last night welcomed by education groups.
Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said: ‘Schoolchildren are becoming addicted to portable devices.
‘The number of textbooks used in our schools is declining year on year, while if you look at high-achieving countries like Taiwan and South Korea, books are in far heavier use.
‘This is a great idea which other schools should certainly consider.’
Children at the private school chose subjects including social media use among young people and Brexit as their research topics.
Head of Junior School Andrew Dickenson said: ‘This has been an incredibly revealing learning curve for our pupils. It’s fantastic to see the results of the initiative as there really are no limitations.’
The university hopes to find a school in the state sector with which to strike up a similar partnership.
‘Exceeded all expectations’