Learning is a Journey

Failure to Connect:

How Computers Affect Our Children's Minds - and What Can We Do About It

By Jane M. Healy, Ph. D.

New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998

Failure to Connect is a non-fiction book that discusses the implications of technology as it relates to the academic and social development of children. Author Jane Healy links children’s technology use to important findings about stages of child development and brain maturation.

Dr. Healy’s, book examines and presents the impact of computer use on children in three parts. Part 1 discusses the use of computers in the home and in the educational setting. Part 2 examines personal issues in technology use, including physical health, intellectual and brain development, and the social, emotional, and other personal aspects of children and teens using computers. Part 3 describes the practical applications that illustrate appropriate and inappropriate ways using technology with different age groups.

Dr. Healy gives these guidelines on deciding when to use technology with children. The guidelines are listed below:

• “If a child has sufficient cognitive skills and social development,
• If technology is not substituting for important developmental experience,
• If we are not expecting it to do what it cannot do,
• If parenting and teaching retain priority,
• If the technology complement a well-planned curriculum,
• If it does not steal funds from more important needs,
• If we are judicious in planning and selection of software and activities,
• If we don’t become seduced by flashy graphics and digital legerdemain,
• If parents and teachers ware willing to provide a human “scaffold” for technology-assisted learning…then young people may profit from wise choices in this emerging field (p.245)."

Failure to Connect is a very interesting and informative book on how the uses of technology can affect children. While reading the book it made me question if I’m doing the right thing when I use technology in my kindergarten classroom. A major hypothesis of Dr. Healy is that computer usage by children under age 7 is probably harmful unless carefully guided by a thoughtful adult. I know I’m a thoughtful adult, however I worry about the brain development of the four and five year olds in my classroom. This book is a real eye opener and should be read by both, parents and educators!

I disagree to a point with the underlying question surfacing throughout this book, “Do computers and technology truly improve student learning and achievement?” According to the author, there is little evidence to support the use of technology as a necessity or benefit to student success. (p. 105-106) The use of technology in my classroom has enhanced my instruction and allowed my students to be active learners. With the use of a LCD projector and a document camera my students can experience creative, innovative lessons. I feel I am able to keep all students actively engaged, especially those students that have difficulty focusing and staying on task. Using power points and DVD’s that reinforce the kindergarten curriculum have made it easier for my students to master skills like: letter recognition, sounds, and sight words.

Reading Failure to Connect allowed me to review information about brain development. It was good to refresh my knowledge of how the brain develops; and the right and left hemispheres. Now, I know that it is important to educate the parents of my students’ on using the computer at home. It has also made me think about the time usage of a LCD projector in relationship to a television. If my students are watching in the classroom and then going home and sitting in front of the television, what harm is being done to them? We all know that a child’s television viewing should be limited. Is the 21^st century learner being over exposed with the use of multi-media in the classroom?