Technology and Education

It's no surprise that technology has made its way into schools for the use of education. Children across America are using iPhones and iPads to play educational games and to watch educational videos. This article talks about both the pros and cons of using these for academic reasons. Some of the pros are that children are fearless when it comes to technology  They aren't as concerned as many adults are when they are given a new piece of technology.  They are able figure it out on their own in no time. In fact, they even labeled the younger generation as a generation of "digital natives." The educational games and videos are also very entertaining for the children as many described the apps as fun. However, many adults would argue that an academic curriculum cannot be replaced with these games and videos. Not to mention the fact that children have short attention spans and can't really get a true understanding of the topic like they would in class.
I remember using laptops in school for the first time in the fourth grade. All of my classmates thought we were so technologically savvy and modern. However, as the article mentioned, technology continues to evolve and grow and I'm sure the fourth graders now have probably known how to work an iPad, iPhone, and MacBook Pro since they were in kindergarten. Recently, the five-year-old I babysit even told me that her kindergarten class has a class iPad that they use during school. It's interesting to see the difference between my kindergarten experience (which now seems extremely old fashioned) and today's kindergartner's experience. I think that it is great that they are using these pieces of technology to hybrid education and entertainment. I'm sure I would have loved to use an iPad in class as a little kid! However, I do not think that they should be used to replace a real school experience. Not only do I think children need a curriculum from school, I also think that if they use these things too often, they miss out on real life interaction. I believe that with more technology comes less social interaction. Overall I don't think that it does any harm to use iPhones or other pieces of technology educationally on airplanes or car rides but I do realize that they can't possibly compare to a true academic curriculum in school.