Example Of The Impact On Reading Achievement Of Fourth Grade Students Using Technology Based Tools Research Paper

Education

2015
Research paper
Introduction
Advancing Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have constructed better spaces to establish qualitative realms of new understandings and interpretation even within the dominions of education around the world. The technological aspirations have had their outstanding impact on the learning abilities of the students, scholars and scientists around the globe. Technology has become central to every aspect of human existence. However, its utilization within the contours of education and knowledge dissemination has proved immensely fruitful. The technology has found its importance right from early childhood to pre-school and school and college and finally in Universities. It is quite interesting to observe the children use technology vitally to update their academic demands. Primary schools focus on the introduction of the technology within the demesnes of the school prospectuses.
Interactive media including digital and analogue devices and Softwares, computer and smart phone applications etcetera have been created and designed to enhance the learning and creative capabilities of young children that encourages their positive and effective engagement with the academic curricula.
Technology is democratic in nature but, there are certain constraints that can obstruct the fair use of technology by supressed (socio-economic) people due to limited access. But, the technology has been a boon to the mankind to develop the every aspect of the human population. It pushes the whole race to newer horizons. It makes the things much easier to understand as it offers the same information with through different media with audio-visual and graphic perspectives. School children always find it interesting and develop burning curiosity to learn through technology, and it benefits them, broadly speaking.

Technology in Education

Latest developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) paved better opportunities to modernize main aspects of human existence by offering innovative technologies to establish better education realms. Improved innovative technologies facilitated massive enactments to enhance the education system of the world, making it much better (Cuban, 2001). Technology enhances learning. Equipping classrooms, libraries and laboratories with advanced technological strategies like computer networks and community networking, tabs, interactive gadgets etcetera along with the internet boosted a positive interface among the students and teachers (Bitner & Bitner, 2002). Such facilities overcome time and space constraints and takes the education system beyond the traditional realms. Introduction of technology created new prospects in establishing a promising education system, and it enhances a collaborative effort of the students and the teachers to augment the whole system effectively.
New technological interventions have formulated new-fangled perspectives of understandings among the children. The children have an in-built attachment with the technology. Smart phones, tablets, and other electronic gadgets have performed better in educating the children. Use of technological devices has intensified the cognitive development among the children, and it has paved the educationists with outstanding opportunities to introduce the technology perspective within the school curriculum.

Project Measures

Incorporating technology in the classrooms introduces certain possible opportunities that can govern and improve the learning capacity of the children. The study would be intending to examine the impact of the technology in augmenting the reading capacity of the students through the application of technology and information that are connected to performance gauges as forwarded by the technological standards of digital learning and teaching. There are other aspects that need to address by the contemporary educationists and thinkers, for instance, the cognitive development of the children is much affected by the intervention of the technology in their day-to-day curricula. The study is mush concerned to have a broader look on the diverse nuance s of the impact of technology on the learning habits of the children (fourth grade) and their understanding as far as the academic realm is concerned.

Project Design

This study would be a descriptive research study, and it would intend to examine the impact of technology on the reading habit of fourth grade students. The main discourse of the research would be an apt understanding of the role of technology in childhood learning, and it would intend to add new dimensions and knowledge to understand the importance of technological perspective within the academic realms. Appropriate methodology would be employed by the researcher to investigate the importance of new technological trends within school systems that can boost the learning competences of the students. The researcher would like to contextualise his interpretations with the conception of ‘Technological determinism’ (Mass communication theory) – put forward by Marshal McLuhan. His famous statement, ‘Medium is the message,’ has constructed a broader aspect of the technology that accounts all technology as communication and the technology is itself as the extension of man.

Project Scope and Timeline

This study is intended to investigate the impact of technology on the reading achievement of the students of fourth grade. The research is quite interesting in order to observe the role of technology on the performance of the students. This research would be quite essential to establish a sincere attempt to address naïve emerging horizons of child education. Strictly speaking, this research would construct new spaces to evaluate the conception and introduction of technology within the education system of the nation, and its overall impact on the apt understanding of the children (students).

Ultimate Project Goals

Methodology
Research methodology includes most important aspect of every research study. The present study was carried out by choosing concrete research methods in order to make authentic observations and conclusions. The research methods implemented by the researcher include:
Participant observation: The researcher employed participant observation to gather the required information from the respondents especially students. This method qualifies as one of the best qualitative research methods that can offer a fair ground to extract in-depth information from the participants. One of the main objectives of using this method was to establish a warm relationship with the fellow (student) respondents. It was successfully done through apt involvement of the researcher in the school culture of the students over an extended period of time.
Discourse analysis: Discourse analysis was employed by the researcher in order to collect vital information for the research study. Six teachers were assessed through this method and the information was collected from them. Such method intends to divulge socio-psychological nuances of the people involved and forms one of the best stands to understand the respondents very keenly.
Interviews: All the respondents were also interviewed from time to time and accordingly the information was collected for the research study. The interviews provide in-depth insights about the access and use of technology within the school curriculum. Also, it offers better understanding (and interpretation) of the research study, which guides certain emerging possibilities within the realms of education.

Project Participants

The participants include thirty students of grade fourth and six teachers of St. Mary’s School, Manhattan, New York. The students and the teachers, the population for the research, were objectively assessed to collect the data needed for the research study.

Sampling Procedures

Simple random sampling was implemented by the researcher to select the respondents – thirty fourth grade students. The data collected from the respondents was done through participant observation and discourse analysis. The researcher would be analysing the reading accomplishments of the children on his own along with the valuable insights of the teachers (who also serve as respondents for the study purpose).

Anticipated Results and Implications 

Technology boosts apt understanding of concepts, making things easier to grasp. However, it is essential that there should a sense of deep engagement of the children with the technology in an expressive and rationally reliable way. At the end of the day, the technology would be used as a tool and its prophecy should be made accountable to offer productive insights among the students. For instance, progressive ease of access and use of technology have simplified the use of technology as tools to provide better understanding of the academic concepts. Forman described digital imagery as ‘tool of the mind’ (Forman 1999,) as it offers better opportunities to assist the children to realize their potential and experiences. There is vast shift to digital literacy within the human civilization that has witnessed a drastic change within the education system also. It encompasses both the media literacy and the technology that creates an amazing ambience for the cognitive development and learning capabilities of the children (Linebarger & Piotrowski 2009).
New technologies framed innovative realms regarding child education that are being followed by schools and colleges to impart effective education (Anderson, Boyles, Rainie, 2012). Also, according to many education specialists, the education system will improve more due to the utilization of the advanced technologies that would affect the cognitive development of the students (Anderson, 2013). The technology offers better infrastructural opportunities to enhance the quality of education, which in turn encourages the effective student understanding and participation in the coming years (Anderson, Boyles, Rainie, 2012). Right from their birth, the twenty-first century children are digitally mature. They possess an in-built understanding of the digital gadgets, making them interactive with the technology.

Conclusion

Introducing and utilizing technological tools in primary school classes, like fourth grade, is important for the cognitive development of the students. It helps a student to analysis in a broader perspective. The technology has its direct impact on the social and cognitive development on the children through three perspectives viz., developmental appropriateness, supported implementation, and classroom and curriculum integration. All the three aspects construct a supportive aura to develop potential of technology to enhance the performance of the children.
It seems quite interesting to observe the impact of technology on the reading achievement of the children (fourth grade) as the incorporation of the technology has created better contours that determine the proper academic development of the children.

References

Anderson, N., (2013). More universities try the MOOC model by moving professors’ lectures online. The Washington Post. Retrieved on 14 April, 2015. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/more-universities-try-the-mooc-model-by-moving-professors-lectures-online/2013/02/25/e490f7e6-77aa-11e2-95e4-6148e45d7adb_story.html
Anderson, J.Q., Boyles, J. L., Rainie, L., (2012). Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. An initiative of the Pew Research Center. Washington, D.C. http://www.pewinternet.org
Bitner, N. and Bitner, J., (2002). Integrating Technology into the classroom: Eight keys to success. Journal of teacher and teacher education, 10(1), 95-100
Cuban, Larry. (2001). Oversold and underused: Computers in the classroom. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Forman, G. 1999. Instant video revisiting: The video camera as a “tool of the mind” for young children. Early Childhood Research and Practice 1 (2): 1–8.
Linebarger, D.L., J.T. Piotrowski, & M. Lapierre. 2009. “The Relationship between Media Use and the Language and Literacy Skills of Young Children: Results from a National Parent Survey.” Paper presented at the NAEYC Annual Conference, 18–21 November, Washington, DC.