Is Technology Producing A Decline In Critical Thinking And Analysis?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090128092341.htm
ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2009) — As technology has played a bigger role
in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have
declined, while our visual skills have improved, according to research
by Patricia Greenfield, UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and
director of the Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles.
Learners have changed as a result of their exposure to technology,
says Greenfield, who analyzed more than 50 studies on learning and
technology, including research on multi-tasking and the use of
computers, the Internet and video games. Her research was published
this month in the journal Science.
Reading for pleasure, which has declined among young people in recent
decades, enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that
visual media such as video games and television do not, Greenfield
said.
How much should schools use new media, versus older techniques such as
reading and classroom discussion?
"No one medium is good for everything," Greenfield said. "If we want
to develop a variety of skills, we need a balanced media diet. Each
medium has costs and benefits in terms of what skills each develops."
Schools should make more effort to test students using visual media,
she said, by asking them to prepare PowerPoint presentations, for
example.
"As students spend more time with visual media and less time with
print, evaluation methods that include visual media will give a better
picture of what they actually know," said Greenfield, who has been
using films in her classes since the 1970s.
"By using more visual media, students will process information
better," she said. "However, most visual media are real-time media
that do not allow time for reflection, analysis or imagination — those
do not get developed by real-time media such as television or video
games. Technology is not a panacea in education, because of the skills
that are being lost.
"Studies show that reading develops imagination, induction, reflection
and critical thinking, as well as vocabulary," Greenfield said.
"Reading for pleasure is the key to developing these skills. Students
today have more visual literacy and less print literacy. Many students
do not read for pleasure and have not for decades."
Parents should encourage their children to read and should read to
their young children, she said.
Among the studies Greenfield analyzed was a classroom study showing
that students who were given access to the Internet during class and
were encouraged to use it during lectures did not process what the
speaker said as well as students who did not have Internet access.
When students were tested after class lectures, those who did not have
Internet access performed better than those who did.
"Wiring classrooms for Internet access does not enhance learning,"
Greenfield said.
Another study Greenfield analyzed found that college students who
watched "CNN Headline News" with just the news anchor on screen and
without the "news crawl" across the bottom of the screen remembered
significantly more facts from the televised broadcast than those who
watched it with the distraction of the crawling text and with
additional stock market and weather information on the screen.
These and other studies show that multi-tasking "prevents people from
getting a deeper understanding of information," Greenfield said.
Yet, for certain tasks, divided attention is important, she added.
"If you're a pilot, you need to be able to monitor multiple
instruments at the same time. If you're a cab driver, you need to pay
attention to multiple events at the same time. If you're in the
military, you need to multi-task too," she said. "On the other hand,
if you're trying to solve a complex problem, you need sustained
concentration. If you are doing a task that requires deep and
sustained thought, multi-tasking is detrimental."
Do video games strengthen skill in multi-tasking?
New Zealand researcher Paul Kearney measured multi-tasking and found
that people who played a realistic video game before engaging in a
military computer simulation showed a significant improvement in their
ability to multi-task, compared with people in a control group who did
not play the video game. In the simulation, the player operates a
weapons console, locates targets and reacts quickly to events.
Greenfield wonders, however, whether the tasks in the simulation could
have been performed better if done alone.
More than 85 percent of video games contain violence, one study found,
and multiple studies of violent media games have shown that they can
produce many negative effects, including aggressive behavior and
desensitization to real-life violence, Greenfield said in summarizing
the findings.
In another study, video game skills were a better predictor of
surgeons' success in performing laparoscopic surgery than actual
laparoscopic surgery experience. In laparoscopic surgery, a surgeon
makes a small incision in a patient and inserts a viewing tube with a
small camera. The surgeon examines internal organs on a video monitor
connected to the tube and can use the viewing tube to guide the
surgery.
"Video game skill predicted laparoscopic surgery skills," Greenfield
said. "The best video game players made 47 percent fewer errors and
performed 39 percent faster in laparoscopic tasks than the worst video
game players."
Visual intelligence has been rising globally for 50 years, Greenfield
said. In 1942, people's visual performance, as measured by a visual
intelligence test known as Raven's Progressive Matrices, went steadily
down with age and declined substantially from age 25 to 65. By 1992,
there was a much less significant age-related disparity in visual
intelligence, Greenfield said.
"In a 1992 study, visual IQ stayed almost flat from age 25 to 65," she said.
Greenfield believes much of this change is related to our increased
use of technology, as well as other factors, including increased
levels of formal education, improved nutrition, smaller families and
increased societal complexity.
The Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles, has received federal
funding from the National Science Foundation.
Adapted from materials provided by University of California - Los Angeles.
