Benefits of Childhood Immersion with Books

This study’s findings supports the contention of scholarly culture theory that immersing children in book-oriented environments benefits their later educational achievement, attainment and occupational standing. These findings have been interpreted as suggesting that book-oriented socialization, indicated by home library size, equips youth with life-long tastes, skills and knowledge. However, to date, this has not been directly assessed. Here, the researchers document advantageous effects of scholarly culture for adult literacy, adult numeracy, and adult technological problem solving. They find that growing up with home libraries boosts adult skills in these areas beyond the benefits accrued from parental education or own educational or occupational attainment.

Sikora, J., Evans, M. D. R., & Kelley, J. (2018). Scholarly culture: How books in adolescence enhance adult literacy, numeracy and technology skills in 31 societies. Social Science Research.

https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2018.10.003

Long-Term Learning of Skills with Technology

According to a study from Pew Research Center, most Americans feel they are lifelong learners, whether that means gathering knowledge for “do it yourself” projects, reading up on a personal interest or improving their job skills.

Other findings include:

-       73% of adults consider themselves lifelong learners.

-       74% of adults are what we call personal learners– that is, they have participated in at least one of a number of possible activities in the past 12 months to advance their knowledge about something that personally interests them. These activities include reading, taking courses or attending meetings or events tied to learning more about their personal interests.

-       63% of those who are working (or 36% of all adults) are what we call professional learners – that is, they have taken a course or gotten additional training in the past 12 months to improve their job skills or expertise connected to career advancement.

Horrigan, J. B. (2016). Lifelong learning and technology. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center. http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2016/03/PI_2016.03.22_Educational-Ecosystems_FINAL.pdf

Different Ways Students Use Technology

This two‐year, mixed methods study with surveys, observations, and interviews, documented student technology use and skill before and after the implementation of a new one‐to‐one tablet computing program at a private middle school in the United States. Results showed that after one year with tablets, several differences in students' technology use and skill were documented, including: higher satisfaction with school technology, greater frequency of technology use in specific subjects such as math and science, greater frequency of certain classroom activities such as two‐way communicating, and greater technology skills on competencies such as editing collaborative wikis. New modes of student collaboration were evident after implementing the tablet program, including sharing notes and co‐editing wikis. Differences were inconsistent across grade levels and subjects, suggesting teachers are adopting the tablet innovation differentially. In general, technology use increased most in math, science, and social studies classrooms, with smaller increases in language arts and foreign language classrooms.

Oliver, K. M., & Corn, J. O. (2008). Student‐reported differences in technology use and skills after the implementation of one‐to‐one computing. Educational Media International, 45(3), 215-229. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09523980802284333?scroll=top&needAccess=true