1. Pros & Cons: Is Elementary Too Early for 1:1 Technology? -Mark Pullen Gettingsmart.com Sarah Beth Clark

2. How young is too young for students to benefit from in-class technology? This article weighs out the pros and cons of allowing elementary school children the access to using technology as part of their school day, instead of just using technology as a whole class. The main question is whether or not elementary students are simply too young to have one on one access to technology.

3. Pros to allowing students to use technology at a young age…  Differentiating Student Instruction :  With the help of 1:1 technology use, both content delivery and students’ assignments can be varied based on students’ interests and readiness levels.  Basically the students can work at their own pace allowing them to understand better, rather than moving through a topic they may not understand from classroom discussion at a quicker speed.

4. Pro 2: Publishing for a Real-World Audience  Just like secondary students, younger students need to see themselves as authors and creators who have valuable things to say to real audiences. 1:1 technology allows students a wider variety of publishing spaces, such as a blog where they can post their writing as well as uploaded presentations, audio, and video files.

5. Pro 3: Extending Learning Beyond the School Day  Students who are allowed to bring their 1:1 devices home can effectively extend their school day and continue their learning in a motivating, fun way. This is especially crucial for students whose home life might otherwise not consist of any form of intellectual stimulation.

6. Pro 4: Building Tech Expertise  Although the main goal of a 1:1 program is not typically using technology for technology’s sake, elementary students in 1:1 schools will certainly be ahead of their peers in their expertise and comfort with technology.  Technology is a very important aspect of our everyday lives and the more comfortable and knowledgeable students can be about using technology, can help them in their futures.

7. Pro 5: Increased Student Motivation  Elementary students in 1:1 technology classroom environments are frequently more motivated to learn than students in traditional classroom environments.  Students are eager to get to use technology that they may not have seen or used before, or that they might not have access at home or somewhere else.  Also gives students something different to do during class, students get tired of lecturing and class wide activities.

8. With the Pros comes the Cons… Con 1:Reading a Physical Book  There is something important for young students about holding a physical book and understanding the basic essence of reading from left to right, top to bottom, and page to page.  Standards must be set to eliminate technology taking over the basic skills children still require such as reading physical books and knowing how to read without using some sort of technology assisting them.

9. Con 2: Movement  Some people fear that 1:1 elementary classrooms will utilize technology every moment, leaving no space for physical education or other athletic movement, and in an ever-increasingly obese society, this causes alarm.  The teachers must use technology in a respective amount of time where complete inactivity won’t be an issue.  Students still sit in class and listen to their teachers talk and they sit while doing written activities, technology time would be no different.

10. Con 3: Using Concrete Manipulatives  In math, children learn one-to-one correspondence through the use of physical manipulatives (including fingers). Some people think that the use of technology would completely eliminate the use of manipulatives.  Before a teacher would assign their class an assignment on some sort of technology, they should consider whether or not the students would benefit more from learning the material through concrete hands on techniques.

11. Reflection  I think that this article is good because it supports both sides of using technology in classrooms of young children. Some things I don’t agree with in this article, such as one of the pro’s, publishing for a real world audience. I don’t agree with this being a pro because publishing anything live or picture related that a student is a part of is very dangerous among the public. You have to be careful about student privacy regarding these kinds of things. I do think it could be helpful to students to see them self talk or listen to themselves tell a story, just not that it should be made public for the whole world to see.

12. Bibliography "Google Images." Google Images. Web. 03 Feb. 2016. Pullen, Mark. "Pros & Cons: Is Elementary Too Early for 1:1 Technology? – Getting Smart by Guest Author - 1:1, Edchat, EdTech, Elearning.“ Getting Smart Pros Cons Is Elementary Too Early for 11 Technology Comments. 2012. Web. 03 Feb. 2016.