Teaching Children with Digital Tools

Should We Use Digital Technology To 'Drill' Children?

Cathie Norris, Elliot Soloway | January 26, 2015

Once upon a time, paper technology enabled educators to drill children on their number facts and times tables using notecards. This information was necessary for living and, importantly, the bits of information matched nicely with the properties of the technology. The flashcard said "2x2=?." The student said "4," then turned over the card to check the answer. This great use of technology was affordable and effective.
Now, software technology enables educators to drill children on virtually every type of factoid. Students can read how infectious diseases are spread or about the Battle of Normandy. The messiness of those types of facts — in comparison to the quantified bits of math information on the flashcards — is not a problem for digital technology. ...

Rocket Math, which presents mathematics as a game, is good for grades three through five. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/13/technology/personaltech/math-drills-for-children-via-the-aspirational-smartphone.html

But here is the real question: should we drill kids on essentially all types of information? Ah, some readers may object to the term “drill”. So substitute the term “competency-based learning” or “personalized learning.”

<more at http://thejournal.com/articles/2015/01/19/memorize.aspx; related links: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/01/12/370966699/meet-the-classroom-of-the-future (Meet The Classroom Of The Future. January 12, 2015) and http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/10/07/353930358/competency-based-education-no-more-semesters (Competency-Based Education: No More Semesters? October 7, 2014); further: https://www.naeyc.org/content/technology-and-young-children/school-age-children (Effective Classroom Practice: School-Age Children; Selected Examples of Effective Classroom Practice Involving Technology Tools and Interactive Media (PDF) ) and https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-prime/201212/how-technology-is-changing-the-way-children-think-and-focus (How Technology is Changing the Way Children Think and Focus. Are your children prepared to think and focus for success in 21st century life? December 4, 2012)>