Will Schools Continue to Push Screen Time?

I have taught a little over 15 years now. I have seen the educational craze for technology–making sure all students have technology in the building such as Chrome Books or iPads. Could this trend be going in reverse?

I have also noticed the following results in students as I teach gifted children now. There has been a decline in creativity scores when students are tested for the gifted program. Students are less excited about getting to draw and color when given opportunity.Even fifth grade gifted students aren’t sure which side of the paper to write on when they are given a writing assignment. They put the notebook paper holes on the right instead of on the left of the page. Because of the focus of online testing, there is less perfection of pencil and paper work and more screen time practice.

Just this week our governor signed a law to give children extra recess time. Children now get 40 minutes of recess! Being outside looking at green spaces in unstructured play adds to students’ creativity–a way better use of time than screens.

There are several articles about the effects of screen time on student creativity including comments by Steve Jobs and Bill Gates themselves. Here is one such article. I challenge you to find other articles like this one and make the best decision for your own students and children.