Interactive Learning Fails Reading Test

motivator_bob writes to tell us the Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the latest craze of interactive computer software is actually hurting the education level rather than helping it. From the article: "Parents have also bought into the enthusiasm for technology, spending millions on educational computer games for their young. However, research published in the journal Education 3 to 13 has found that pupils who use interactive programs cannot remember stories they have just read because they are distracted by cartoons and sound effects."

I'll say

[RedNovember]

I tried this out when I was a OOH SHINY!

Kiki's gone into ferret-shock!

[Eli Gottlieb]

And then made cartoons and sounds behind the couch. She was going to learn to read, but HEY, those clothes in the dryer want to play tag!

What was that?

[a_greer2005]

No really, the big animated ad thingy under the summery whiped it from my oh so fragile short term memory.

Re:So what?

[AKAImBatman]

This is the song that doesn't end...

Yes, it goes on and on my friend!

Some people started singing it
not knowing what they'd done,
and they'll continue singing it
forever just because...

This is the song that doesn't end...

(EVERYONE! [walmart.com])

Re:If the kids Can't Read....Use speach recognitio

[ScrewMaster]

You misspelled Larnin'.

I blame the pubic school system

[istartedi]

That little gem has even appeared in The Washington Post. When even old time print media is coasting on the spell checker, maybe it's a lost cause.

What the..

[StikyPad]

I can attest to the validity of this study. I don't have kids, but when I was one, I had a plastic learning device called a "Speak & Spell." Some of you may have heard of it. The only thing I can remember about this device is that if you pushed the L button, it sounded a LOT like "hell." We would use this exceedingly amusing, at the time, coincidence(?) to get around actually using bad words through such techniques as saying "What the" and then pushing L. Surprisingly, this technique proved to be completely ineffective at avoiding a spanking.

Re:I'll say

[wmajik]

I tried this out when I was a OOH SHINY! Somewhere in the Army, someone is just now figuring out that chrome on the grenade pin might have been a bad idea...

Re:I'll say

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

As someone with ADHD, I have to say that your comment is HEY LETS GO RIDE BIKES!

Additional sources on the subject

[fastgood]

I read the exact same thing on Fortune last week. Or was it Forbes? It was one of those webpages
with all the float-over windows with sound and graphics ... it's kind of hard to remember now which.

The Pedants are Revolting...

[kale77in]

> Anna Karina

So would you say your recollection of Anna Kar-en-ina [wikipedia.org] was at all affected by the reading program?

(And where's my -1 Pedant mod, hmmm? It's 2006 already, and still no Pedant mod...)

An interesting article

[corngrower]

That article was pretty good. But I think it just needs some sound effects and cartoons to go along with it. They could play when you clicked on some pictures or icons around the text.

Re:Hear, Hear!

[GaryPatterson]

Ha! Study, knowledge and long experience aren't any guide.

Anecdotal evidence is a far more valid!

People going around with actual knowledge aren't welcome on Slashdot. It's all supposition, one-off experiences, bizarre conspiracy theories and wild guesses around here.

Sadly.

perhaps...

[Foobar of Borg]

However, research published in the journal Education 3 to 13 has found that pupils who use interactive programs cannot remember stories they have just read because they are distracted by cartoons and sound effects.

Perhaps that would explain all the dupes on slashdot. The editors are too busy looking at the shiny icons and banner ads, so they can't remember the stories they have just read.