Article Critique

Latricia Bright  

June 16, 2013
Article Critique:
ED505

1. Provide the complete article title and author. 

The complete title of the article is Laptops and Fourth-Grade Literacy: Assisting the Jump over the Fourth-Grade Slump and the authors are Kurt A. Suhr, David A. Hernandez, Douglas Grimes, and Mark Warschauer.

2. State the intended audience.  (What is empirical research and how does it help the classroom?)

The intended audience is administrators wanting to promote the use of technology to prevent this “fourth-grade slump” from continuing to happen in their communities and the use of laptops programs have a strong allure to educational administrators seeking to promote the kinds of thinking, learning and creativity required in the 21^st century.  The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language definition tells us that empirical research is research which is based on observed and measured phenomena and it is research that derives knowledge from actual experience rather than from theory or belief. Empirical research helps in the classroom because it allows teachers to see the authenticity of research and it allows them to visually see what is needed for the students as a result of the research. 

3.  What is/are the research question/questions or hypothesis/hypotheses?

The three research questions in this study are: 1. Were there significant differences in the total ELA score changes in the California Standards Test (CST) over the two-year period from third grade to fifth grade between the one-to-one laptop groups and the non-laptop group, after controlling for other factors? 2. Were there significant differences n the six subtests used to compute those total ELA scores for the same two groups? 3. Can participants in a one-to-one laptop program be used to predict changes in ELA total and subtest scores over the two-year period from third grade to fifth grade? 

4. Describe the subject (participants) and the procedures (methods) used by the researcher(s)?

The participants of the study included the treatment group that consisted of 54 fourth-grade students who participated in the one-to-one laptop program and the control group which consisted of 54 fourth-grade students who were placed in non-laptop classes.  The control group did not receive laptops and the treatment group received laptops that were to be used in the classroom for three to six hours weekly. 

5. What were the conclusions of the researchers? Do you agree or disagree with the conclusions? Support your position.

The conclusions of this study is that it adds to the emerging body of literature that suggest that laptop use over multiple years have a small positive effect on literacy score outcomes.  Laptops are not the magic bullet that will single-handely overcome unsatisfactory  ELA test scores.  However, this study suggest that laptops may have a small effect on increasing such scores, which particularly benefits in the areas of literary response and analysis and writing strategies. I do agree with the conclusions because, I think the use of technology should be continuous if started and with the many aspects of technology that exist today is can become very costly. “The process of integrating technology effectively into education requires substantial, ongoing investments in technology infrastructure and teacher training” (Roblyer & Doering, 2013, p. 23). 

6.  What suggestions for further research do the authors suggest? What other suggestions for future research would you suggest?  

The authors suggest that some schools were not able to be accounted because of school characteristics, there was insufficient representation from other ethnic groups, a larger sample size would have increased the likelihood that differences from the means within each group would cancel out and could lead to more stable parameter estimates, a cost-benefit analysis to compare the possible effects of laptop intervention to those of other interventions was not performed, and the duration of the study may also have affected the findings.  I would suggest the research be performed again in the same schools, maybe the variables could be changed, and all these suggestions that the author discussed should be taken into consideration before the research begins.  I think that would yield more positive results in the study. 

Reference: 

Empirical research. (n.d.). In The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Retrieved
     from http://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=empirical+research.



 Check out this link when a pulic school moves toward one-to-one computing:
http://stoughton.patch.com/articles/stoughton-public-schools-moving-towards-one-to-one-computing-model
Another link on one-to-one computing
http://www.virtucom.com/what-we-do/strategic-it-consulting/oneone-computing/