Technology?

• Prefers to learn material via drill-and-practice apps (every student has a different learning style and preference for learning)

• Has a few minutes of free time when
the teacher is working with others
I am all in favor of technology that
encourages creativity, critical thinking,
and problem solving. But sometimes
students need a little scaffolding to help
them on their way to these higher-order
skills, and drill-and-practice apps are an
engaging way to do this.

—Caitlin McLemore is a PK– 12 media technology integrationist at Currey Ingram Academy in Brentwood, Tennessee, USA. She has a MEd in elementary education with a specialization in educational technology from the University of Florida.

4 C’s—critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity— to support innovation. If we wish to bridge the more than 30-year gap between teachers’ expertise in both curriculum and pedagogy and the understanding of how technology connects, expands, and changes teaching and learning, then we must resist replication of practice, challenge our thinking, and spend our limited resources on apps that help good teachers create deep learning.

—Kendra Grant is a 30-year K– 12 educator with more than 13 years’ experience supporting large-scale technology implementation through the design and delivery of blended professional learning. She is currently chief education officer at Sublime Learning.

Here’s what other ISTE members had to say about this topic. Participate in our reader poll at iste.org/LL.

YES

51%

Free Up Thinking Power

Because the amount of information a student can attend to at any one time is limited, being able to easily retrieve certain elements of a task allows students to focus more attention on other components. If learners have to struggle when retrieving information, they are unable to focus conscious attention on using their knowledge and skills for solving new problems in innovative ways.

Marilyn Ault Director, Advanced Learning Technologies in Education Consortia Lawrence, Kansas, USA

Spend Your Resources Wisely

Are worksheets an appropriate educational use of the paper fund in a school? Would you like to see a teacher printing copies of a worksheet? Or would you rather see that same amount of paper used to print an informational flyer about a local issue that students produced to distribute around the community? If the majority of technology- or paper-based activities is spent on drill and practice, then these resources are employed rather ineffectively.

Nikkol Bauer CIO, Henry County Public Schools Louisville, Kentucky, USA

Easy to Manage

Apps for vocabulary or multiplication tables usually give immediate feedback. They provide a time limit. They can be tracked. They are usually entertaining and provide another mode of instruction for skill development. All these attributes are hallmarks of successful lessons and classroom management.

Joan P. Hinshaw Learning Specialist São Paulo, Brazil

Don’t Rob Them of Their Chance to Think

The value of new technology is in opening up new pathways to learning that are better, faster, and cheaper than the old ways. You can learn something such as 7 × 8 = 56 from flash cards or by recognizing patterns. Using flash card software for things that children can learn by discerning patterns robs them of the opportunity to think.

Harry Keller President, Smart Science Education, Inc.

Los Angeles, California, USA

Can’t Learn Without It

Though drill-and-practice is denigrated by modern educational populists, there is a very strong, growing, and evidence-based backlash against too much learning without drill-and-practice. For example, students need to understand why 5 × 6 is 30, but they also need to be able to recognise instantly that 5 × 6 is 30. That’s where drill-and-practice (times tables) comes in.

Eric Dunbar Teacher Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Let Students Choose

A self-directed approach—meaning students can use the method that works best for them—wins out. Students should be allowed to choose from a specific “folder” of apps relating to the curriculum that they are working on that has a mix of instructive (drill-and-practice) or constructive (open-ended, with a focus more on creating) apps.

John McCann Project Manager Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

A Place in Bloom’s and the NETS

Although drill-and-practice is not the most compelling instructional approach, it does have its place in education. Even Bloom’s Taxonomy has a basis [for this]. I also believe flash-card apps address the Research and Information Fluency standard of the NETS for Students.

Thomas Petra Technology Integration Specialist Hagatna, Guam, USA

Drill Your Way to Critical Thinking

As a classroom English teacher, I came across many students who could not think critically even though they had been given many critical-thinking exercises. They were simply able to regurgitate someone else’s analysis or solution. They did not have the basic skills they needed to critically analyze literature because no one bothered to spend much time on the foundation of analysis, which would have required some skill-and-drill practice.