Engl107 - U2Db

ENGL107 – U2DB

American Intercontinental University

May 8, 2011

The article I chose is Is Technology Producing a Decline in Critical Thinking and Analysis? by Jim DeLillo. In the article, the author uses research done by a distinguished professor of psychology, Patricia Greenfield. She is also the director of the Children’s Digital Media Center in Los Angeles. The main opinion is that according to the research done my Ms. Greenfield, critical thinking and analysis skills have declined because technology has a bigger role in our lives nowadays.

The author continues on to question whether schools should use new technology as opposed to traditional techniques of reading and classroom discussion. To answer this, he points out that according to research, "No one medium is good for everything," Greenfield said. "If we want to develop a variety of skills, we need a balanced media diet. Each medium has costs and benefits in terms of what skills each develops" (DeLillo, 2009). The author also believe that schools should test the students using the technology to their advantage, for example having the students make PowerPoint presentations to show their aptitude of a lesson rather than just answer questions.

Ms. Greenfield’s research also points out that students process information better when they have visual media to assist in relaying the information for a lesson, but that traditional techniques should not be forgotten either. There needs to be a middle ground that is found to get the most out of both learning techniques. Furthermore, students who are give access to the internet during lectures do not process the information as well as the students that did not have access to the internet. This showed that multitasking actually hinders the learning process.

Overall, a middle ground needs to be found in order to fully benefit from the integration of technology in education. Reducing the possibility of multitasking during lectures and activities that require...