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Computers Can Boost Literacy
June 18, 2009Computers do not spell the demise of literacy -- in fact, they may help to create one of the most literate and engaged generations the world has seen.
Carl Whithaus, associate professor of writing at UC Davis, will make that argument during a 2-3:15 p.m. session on Saturday, June 20, in room 106 of Wellman Hall at UC Davis, part of a four-day Computers & Writing 2009 conference sponsored by the University Writing Program at UC Davis.
Whithaus will report preliminary results from a California Department of Education-funded project under way in fourth-grade classrooms at elementary schools in the Elk Grove School District in Elk Grove, Calif. The project uses technology to increase academic achievement.
During the first year of the two-year study, student achievement increased 27.5 percent, according to Whithaus, who is principal investigator of a study to evaluate the project's effectiveness.
"We're finding that traditional print-based literacy is important. At the same time, we're seeing that the new technologies are not just eye candy," says Carl Whithaus, an associate professor of writing at UC Davis and principal investigator of the evaluation arm of the study.
"Traditional print-based reading and writing is only part of a much larger set of skills that students need in the 21st century."
Whithaus is also the organizer of Computers & Writing 2009. The conference is the culmination of a yearlong series of conferences hosted by the University of California on technology and writing.
University of California - Davis
During the first year of the two-year study, student achievement increased 27.5 percent, according to Whithaus, who is principal investigator of a study to evaluate the project's effectiveness.
"We're finding that traditional print-based literacy is important. At the same time, we're seeing that the new technologies are not just eye candy," says Carl Whithaus, an associate professor of writing at UC Davis and principal investigator of the evaluation arm of the study.
"Traditional print-based reading and writing is only part of a much larger set of skills that students need in the 21st century."
Whithaus is also the organizer of Computers & Writing 2009. The conference is the culmination of a yearlong series of conferences hosted by the University of California on technology and writing.
University of California - Davis
Literacy Current Events and Literacy News RSSTV bombards children with commercials for high-fat and high-sugar foods
Childhood obesity in the United States is reaching epidemic proportions. With more than one fourth of advertising on daytime and prime time television devoted to foods and beverages and continuing questions about the role television plays in obesity.
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In the study, published in the September/October 2009 issue of journal Academic Pediatrics, a sample of 163 parents of children seen at pediatric clinics at UNC and Vanderbilt University were tested to assess their understanding of BMI, their health literacy and their math abilities.
K-12 education should include engineering
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She's going back to school but can she read?
Five million students will return to Canadian schools this month. If nothing changes at least a million will fail to graduate high school.
How to advance scientific literacy
Society needs science, and scientists need an informed, thoughtful, and open-minded citizenry. Thus, the obvious dependence of American society on science is strikingly inconsistent with the low level of scientific literacy among U. S. citizens.
Mom and dad as financial advisors
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PTSD associated with higher Alzheimer's/dementia risk; moderate alcohol consumption may lower it
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Self-regulation game predicts kindergarten achievement
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Students least informed about environmental science are most optimistic
Will problems associated with environmental issues improve in the next two decades? According to an analysis of student performance on PISA 2006--an international assessment of 15-year-olds--students who are the best informed about environmental science and the geosciences are also the most realistic about the environmental challenges facing the world in the next 20 years.
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