Modern Technology Influence on Studying in School Classroom - Research Paper Example

HOW DOES TECHNOLOGY AFFECT LEARNING IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASSROOMS AND WHAT ROLE DOES BIRTH ORDER PLAY IN PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT? How does technology influence learning in the elementary school classrooms Technology has enhanced and promoted learning primary schools in which children around the world could work and learn from each other enabling them to understand the different cultures and nature, become more proactive and independent learners. Technology as allowed children to take charge of their own learning activities through direct search of information on their own, discover new approaches and solutions to their problems, think critically and managed to correlation varies information to make sense out of it. The use of technology as increased the children’s abilities to learn and assimilate new information, had been motivated and inspired to learn through working in groups and helping each other by the willingness to write or to work on science and mathematics projects using computers to their satisfaction with immediate feedback on their projects provided. The integration of e- learning with traditional classroom teaching model produced higher academic achievement in science and arts subjects than traditional board and chalk model alone and children learnt muck quicker and ease with greater retention when learning with the aid of computers. Children exposed to computer prefer to use them in almost all activities from playing games, designing, and their attitudes toward learning and school improved positively. The introduction of e learning in primary schools as proved more promising in enabling at risk children to perform better academically. (Means et al 1991) When technology was combined with traditional teaching model the learning process of children was increased especially on the science, mathematics, language and basic skills area. The integration of e- learning with traditional board and chalk teaching model produced higher academic achievement in science and mathematics subject areas. (Laboratory for Comparative Human Cognition, 1989) The school attendance improved drastically after the introduction of computers to the classroom the pupils like learning use computers, learnt quick and with ease and their attitudes towards e- learning positively affect school attendance. Their retention capacities improved when learning using technology and were able to thinking critically, collaborated more to find alternatives solutions to the challenges before them. (Jaber 1997) When children were using technology as a tool of learning, playing and communication, they were actively involved and actively made decisions about how they would obtained, generated, manipulated, or displayed information which went a long way to improve there cognitive behavior. Adaptation of technology into the classroom allowed many children and teachers to be actively involved in designing their curriculum, which enabled them to be actively engaged in active learning, executed skills more than was typical in teacher-led lessons. Additionally when technology was used to support children in performing tasks, such as writing essays, searching information on the internet and share online they were in a position of defining their own goals, learn and making decisions while evaluating their own learning progress. When compared to traditional board and chalk teaching classrooms, technology provided a complex challenges that acted as incentives of learning and discovering new ways of tackling they challenges and the desire to demonstrate what they understood through programming a simulation concepts rather than trying to explain it verbally enable them learn more. (Akpınar and Ergin 2007) As Dwyer and group indicated that any child, included on the category of those who performed poorly academically, were integrated into technology classrooms, experienced a positive change on their performance academically and class attendance improve tenfold. Because constructive teaching and learning models aided by computers that brought complexity to the tasks that were performed and motivated them to learn more. (Dwyer, Ringstaff and Sandholtz, 1990) Teachers who incorporate technology in the classroom were able to effectively create conducive environment for science and arts design experiments as a result children were able to perform varies tasks, learnt different cultures, explored new ideas, and used a variety of tools to gather information and solved complex problems just like in the real world. (Means et al 1999) Another positive effect of technology was the increased desire on the part of children to collaborate on their studies and provided support to each other especially when assigned to work in groups. Thus the child who was a tech savvy was recognized more than those who did not and the sense of being of help to others encouraged a child to work hard. Because of this children were helping and cooperating with each other and they enjoyed there e- learning class most of the pupils performance better academically. (Kara and Kahraman 2008) What role does birth order play in personality development? Birth Order and Personality The birth order as a huge impact on the character of an individual, that is first child in a family grew up to became a good leader, ambitious, high-achiever, and conforming. This is because as the child grows up s/he develops a special relationship with is parents and caregivers, therefore, everything achievement of the child was applauded, recorded, and documented. The first child tries to please parents by doing everything right and conforming to there rule, the child spends more time with is parents, they have time to play, mentor and provide language interactions these encourages the first child to achieve more and receive praise. The first child therefore becomes rule-conscious, goal-oriented and attention to detail. When the later the family relies on the firstborn to take charge of younger siblings the child became more dependable. The negative impact of being the firstborn is experiencing fear of failure. (McGuirk et al 2008) The second, third or fourth born (middle children) experienced difficulties in finding a position of privilege in the family, lacks individual attention, which may make the second born feel unloved and when there are difference among the other siblings the second born tends to act as mediator, is loyal, takes responsibility, competes with the older child and become a good team leader. When s/he grows up may become more independent or rebel against the family by excelling at other activities the other siblings do not. Second child tend to be more friendlier thanother siblings because of the negotiating and mediating they have had to do growing up, they are thought of as the effective team player and may have carved out her place outside the family, thereby acquiring many friends. The second child may feel neglected by the older and younger siblings feel s/he does not have a place in the family. (Adams 1972) In contrast, lastborn is assumed to be the spoiled child of the family because is r birth positions is the only focus of the parents and other family members. S/he will seek alternative strategies to stand out from other siblings, the lastborn child in the family is often associated with being affectionate, outgoing and performs for the other members of the family to get attention. Usually the lastborn is catered to by everyone, therefore could develop unfavorable traits such as being temperamental, impatient, spoiled and sometimes the last child would not take responsibility, make decisions and is not independent thinker. The only child enjoys the undivided attention of his parents and caregivers because of these extra attentions and time spent interacting with adults, the child develops strong interpersonal skills, is creativity and imagination. The only child could have a more driven personality than even a firstborn such as reliable, conscientious, being well-organized, and conservative and the urge for perfection may develop into a tendency to be critical of himself. (Paulhus et al 1999) Finally, the characteristics traits and personality plays a huge part in one’s life accomplishments and influence the individual through being conscientiousness, agreeable, which correlated to children’s’ academic performance. (Chowdhury and Amin 2006) children who were highly conscientious and agreeable achieved better academic performance than those who scored low in conscientiousness and agreeableness subscales. In addition, also found that personality traits such as conscientiousness, neuroticism, psychoticism, and extraversion correlated significantly with higher academic performance. (Chamorro-Premuzic and Furnham 2003) Reference list Adams B N (1972) Birth order: a critical review. Sociometry, 35, 411-439. Akpınar E and Ergin O (2007) The effect of interactive computer animations accompanied with experiments on 6th grade students. Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 2 (2), 36-4. Chowdhury M S and Amin M N. (2006) Personality and students’ academic achievement: Interactive effects of conscientiousness and agreeableness on students’ performance in principles of economics. Social Behaviour and Personality, 34, 381-388. Chamorro-Premuzic,T and Furnham A. (2003b).Personality traits and academic examination performance. European Journal of Personality, 17, 237-250 Dwyer D, Ringstaff C and Sandholtz J (1991) Changes in teachers’ beliefs and practices in technology-rich classrooms. Educational Leadership, 48(8), 45–52. Jaber W (1997) A surveyof factors which influence teachers’ use of computer-based technology. Dissertation Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition. (1989) Kids and computers: A positive vision of the future. Harvard Educational Review, 59, 73–86. Kara İ and Kahraman O. (2008) The effect of computer assisted instruction on the achievements of students on the instruction of physics topic of 7th grade science course at a primary school, Journal of Applied Sciences, 8 (6), 1067-1072. McGuirk E M and Pettijohn T F (2008) Birth order and romantic relationship styles and attitudes in college students. North American Journal of Psychology, 10, 37-52. Means B, Chelemer C and Knapp M. (1991) Teaching advanced skills to at-risk students: views from research and practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass Publishers. Means B, Middleton T, Blando J, Olson K, Remz A Morocco C, and Zorfass J (1993) Using technology to support education reform. Washington, DC: Available: www.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/TechReforms). Paulhus D L, Trapnell P D and Chen D. (1999) Birth order effect on personality and achievement within families. Psychological Sciences, 10, 482-488. Read More