To share a research conversation with our partner classroom, I wanted to use something I experienced inside Mr. Simms class that I never saw when I was going through K-12–the use of laptops regularly inside of the class. The students were able to use their laptops freely inside of the classroom environment to aid in their learning and their ability to provide information to the discussion between the class members and Mr. Simms. This allowed more people to be able to talk about a subject that, in my classes, kept people from speaking for fear of getting the wrong answer or being called out for knowing something that the others did not.

In her article Payne notes that, “The average score, looking at students’ multiple-choice and short-answer scores, was roughly 71.7 percent, with a standard deviation of 9.2 percentage points. Students in classrooms without Internet-connected devices earned the highest average score of 72.9 percent. Students in classrooms where laptop and tablet usage was not restricted earned the lowest scores, on average, at 70.5 percent, a difference of 2.4 percentage points. Students in classrooms where only tablets were allowed under strict conditions did slightly better, with an average score of 71.4 percent, but they still had lower scores than students in the technology-free group” (Carter). This shows how the laptops in the classroom do not decrease the average score by a margin large enough to deem them as being bad to the learning environment. This is also shown in the same article with the statement, ” Instructor controls are important, as we want to eliminate any differences from instructors who are better or worse at delivering the material. Class-hour controls account for whether students perform differently at different hours of the day, such as before or after lunch. Semester controls ensure that differences are not driven by slight variations in the course between the two semesters” (Carter). Even though the laptops have a lower score than no technology, this is accounted for with the way that the teacher controls the class, which is everything to the student for their learning capability.

CARTER, SUSAN PAYNE, et al. “Should Professors Ban Laptops? How Classroom Computer Use Affects Student Learning.” Education Next, vol. 17, no. 4, Fall 2017, pp. 68–74. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=125076083&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Throughout my time in school, I always believed that most of the work I did was busywork. Work should not be this way as a whole and it should not be boring to the students that are trying their hardest to find interest in the things being taught in public schools. The work itself should be interesting, hands-on, meaningful, and essential to life skills to what the student wants to make of themselves after graduation so that learning is no longer a chore and speed bump in life, but an essential and meaningful thing that guides them on the path that they most want to pursue. This was covered in EL Education’s video as shown with the students of multiple public schools coming together and creating works of literature that affected not only themselves but the societies and culture that was important to their communities.

Ultimately, education has fallen to the wayside of many things, to include budgets, quality, and essentialness to the life of the individual, and for many people is seen as nothing more than a burden keeping them from starting their life and making their own way in the world. Schools, teachers, and the student’s work should not enforce this wholesale like much does today, but instead try to push the students onwards and raise them up to see that education is essential to their success in whatever career path they choose. With the implementation of hands-on, life-essential skills students will be more engaged and more apt to pursue further education in many college and university level institutions after they finish their required high school education.

Throughout my time in school, I always believed that most of the work I did was busywork. Work should not be this way as a whole and it should not be boring to the students that are trying their hardest to find interest in the things being taught in public schools. The work itself should be interesting, hands-on, meaningful, and essential to life skills to what the student wants to make of themselves after graduation so that learning is no longer a chore and speed bump in life, but an essential and meaningful thing that guides them on the path that they most want to pursue. This was covered in EL Education’s video as shown with the students of multiple public schools coming together and creating works of literature that affected not only themselves but the societies and culture that was important to their communities.

Ultimately, education has fallen to the wayside of many things, to include budgets, quality, and essentialness to the life of the individual, and for many people is seen as nothing more than a burden keeping them from starting their life and making their own way in the world. Schools, teachers, and the student’s work should not enforce this wholesale like much does today, but instead try to push the students onwards and raise them up to see that education is essential to their success in whatever career path they choose. With the implementation of hands-on, life-essential skills students will be more engaged and more apt to pursue further education in many college and university level institutions after they finish their required high school education.