Digital Smarts - Smartphones – Are They Hurting Kids’ Thinking Skills?

According to a study by Rutgers University, the fact that kids can so easily find information online is  hurting students' long-term retention and even resulting in lower grades on exams. During the most recent two years of the study, when students were asked how they did their homework, students who benefitted from homework reported generating their own answers and students who reported copying the answers from another source did not see the same retention of information. Of course, this calls into question the kinds of queries that are part of homework. If students are able to just plug in an answer, and are not being asked to do any critical thinking about the content or context, then it probably does make the information fairly forgettable. Something to think about as you help kids with virtual learning this school year.