As the weather cools I find myself needing a jumper or a sweatshirt when I go out for my early morning or late afternoon walks. This brings to mind the importance of encouraging students to enjoy the outdoors while the weather is nice and cool. At school we have adjusted our play schedules so that students all get the opportunity to play in the outside spaces. After the break we will be asking for your support to build some new pieces of equipment for our Early Years students. In the meantime, while the weather is cool please take your children to the beach, visit the wadis, take them to the parks, let them play outside. Which brings me to the main point of today’s message.
This week has been an interesting one as I consider the use of technology in school and how we can use this to the best of our advantage to improve student learning. Interesting research is coming out now around the impact of phones and unsupervised time online playing games etc. Young children’s brains are becoming increasingly over stimulated due to the amount of time they are spending on phones, ipads or computers. The constant sound, movement and colour is causing over stimulation of young minds and therefore when children are asked to do something else you may get the response of “No, that’s boring,” or even simply “NO!” with a tantrum attached. Research that came out in February, 2024 tells us that children who use devices at home for leisure for more than one hour a day saw a big decline in maths performance. This is important information for us as parents and for us as teachers to consider as we ask students to use IT at school and of course, as students use IT at home. Across OECD countries nearly two-thirds of students reported feeling distracted by devices while engaged in classroom instruction. They also reported that nearly half of students indicated they feel nervous or anxious when their phone is not with them. Ellesmere Muscat will be considering the use of phones at school moving forward.
Please, if your child is on a device at home, limit the time to one hour. Now, if your child is studying and working towards exams then obviously you take this into account. But students can still study and take notes using pen and paper! Research also tells us that our brains retain more when handwrite our notes.
In the meantime please spend time talking to your children no matter how old or young they are, having dinner together, playing games, and enjoying the beauty that Oman has to offer, especially now it is cool outside.