Article Critique

Ronika Amerson
June 16, 2013
ED 505


Article Critique Form



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



2. State the intended audience. (What is empirical research and how does it help the classroom?) The intended audience is administrators seeking to promote thinking and learning as it is occuring and the 21st century. Moreover, seeking to keep students out of the “fourth grade slump.” According to Penn State Libraries, “Empirical research is based on observed and measured phenomena and derives knowledge from actual experience rather than from theory or belief.” It helps in the classroom because students are observed closely and we are able to produce what is needed based on the results found.


3. What is/are the research question/questions or hypothesis/hypotheses? There were three main research questions from this study: A. Were there significant differences in the total ELA score changes in the California Standards Test (CST) between the one-to-one laptop group and the non-laptop group? B. Were there significant differences in the six subtests used to compute those total ELA scores for the same two groups? C. Can participation 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)? There were a total of 108 participants in this study. There were 54 subjects in the control group (non-laptop users) and 54 subjects in the treatment group (one-to-one laptop users). There were 55 females and 53 males in the group. The treatment group was given laptops to use during classes for at least three to six hours weekly. The control group was not given laptops.


5. What were the conclusions of the researchers? Do you agree or disagree with the conclusions? Support your position. The study showed that the laptop group did not experience as much difficulty in the fifth grade as those in the non-laptop group did. Likewise, the laptop group outperformed the non-laptop group on two subtests on the ELA. I do not agree with the findings. I think that the study was inconclusive because the laptop students did not significantly outscore the non-laptop students in every area of the ELA. Moreover, they used gifted and talents students in one group. These students were sure to perform well with or without the use of laptops. Besides, “ Technology is our own response to overcoming obstacles- our methods, and our own creative attempts to solve problems in our environment” ( Roblyer & Doering, 2013). Therefore, laptops is not necessarily the answer.


6. What suggestions for further research do the authors suggest? What other suggestions for future research would you suggest? The authors made several suggestions for furthering research including: cost-benefit analysis, not have the study be for such a long two-year period, and possibly reducing the number of participants as 30 subjects are typically used to represent a reliable population. My suggestions include: using schools with a higher percentage of free/reduced lunch (this school only had 40%), not use gifted students as a sub-group, and maybe using a school with African American students as there were none noted in the study. I think changing these variables will yield much different results. “Even though electronic technologies have been around since the 1950s, research results have not drawn a clear line between technology use and impact on educational quality (Roblyer & Doering, 2013, p. 24).

Also, check out the link on one-to-one computing. Just because we have computers, they don't work themselves. This page give great tips on how to make it work!

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech197.shtml