Carvin, A. (2006, May 4). [Weblog] Does home internet access improve academic achievement?. Learning. Now. Retrieved March 18, 2008, from
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/2006/05/does_home_internet_access_impr_1.html
(Blog)
This resource is another blog entry by Andy Carvin. I know I have already used one of his articles as a resource, but he just has some really great articles on his blog, I can’t resist! This entry is looking specifically at low-income children and if the use of the internet at home improves their GPA and/or their test scores.
As soon as began reading this, I knew I had to post it. This has been a question in the back of my mind for a very long time now, I just have never really wanted to admit it. I’m a huge proponent for using technology in the classroom, and I truly do believe that it improves the education of our students, but I have never had the research to back up my thoughts. Carvin’s article has just the research I have been looking for!
Thanks to the wonderful (sarcastic) state tests that we all undergo each year, I really did wonder how much using technology, specifically the internet, helps our students when it comes to testing. In my classroom, we access the reading selections that are posted online by the Ohio Department of Education. These selections and questions are set up the same as the paper ones, they are just online. The kids enjoy doing them more on the computer, just because they think it’s more fun than doing it on paper. But, other than that, does using the internet really help our students?
HomeNetToo children logged on primarily to surf the Web. Web pages are heavily text based. Thus, whether searching for information about school-related projects or searching for information about personal interests and hobbies (e.g., rock stars, movies), children who were searching the Web more were reading more, and more time spent reading may account for improved performance on standardized tests of reading and for higher GPAs, which depend heavily on reading skills.
(Carvin, 2006)
YES, it does help our students! Duh….reading comprehension…why didn’t I think of that?! When I read this, I was jumping for joy! I just KNEW that using the internet had to be of more benefit than it’s more fun for the kids. I was overjoyed to see that it can actually help students when taking the state achievement tests. Also, knowing this is a huge push with administrations and districts who have not whole-heartedly adopted the idea of using technology in the classroom. YAY!
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Hi Jenn,
I enjoyed the article. I thought it brought some good facts to light. I think the Internet can play a big role in reading comprehension.
However, it plays that role if we teach it the right way. My students love to use the Internet, but all they want to do is play the games. If we do research, they quickly want to copy down a couple sentences they find so they can go and explore without really reading. I quickly realized I had to teach how to use the Internet effectively. Some kids really catch on and enjoy the 'searching' correctly while others do not.
I guess it depends on how teachers and parents go about showing their kids how to access the Internet for reading comprehension in the most exciting way.
I think things like Scavenger Hunts are very fun for kids to tackle reading comprehension.
Annette
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