Figuring Out How Children Learn With Technology

Schools are stocking classrooms with computers. And outside of school, children are increasingly glued to screens, be they on phones, personal computers or TVs hooked to gaming consoles. Are they learning? In which environments? Under which conditions?

Children are spending an increasing amount of time in front of screens, said Ryan Blitstein, executive director of the Susan Crown Exchange. “There are two ways to look at it,” he said. “We can either say, ‘oh my gosh, we’re in trouble,’ or we can say, ‘this is an opportunity.’” The foundation is supporting, among other projects, continuing research by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit group that is developing a rating system for parents interested in buying educational software. That system will be introduced next year. With the Common Sense project and others the foundation is supporting, the idea is to explore whether there are keys to understanding learning behavior in activities that may not be aimed at teaching in the first place.