You make it sound like they use it once and put it down forever. They don't. They put it down to go play (which, at that age, is another type of learning). Then they come back, maybe later that day, or the next.
Haven't there been studies on this? The human brain is not good at absorbing information after durations longer than this. It has to have time to process information before it can build on top of it. This is why khan academy and duolingo are so effective, too - you consume little bites of knowledge, go away and process them, and then come back.
Entertainment is not the same thing as learning. Videogames and movies are so completely different from the learning process. Yeah, you can learn from them, but for that amount of time not to be taxing you have to fill it with other stuff. Like a storyline and action and drama. They have passive elements which constitute most of their length.
The constant force-stream of modern classrooms is what makes them so dull and tiring, and gives us stupid kids and disappointing graduates. I think it's pretty awesome that they get to focus for half an hour and learn at their own pace (the most critical part), then get to enjoy being kids for a while.
And 30 minutes is about the point where sitting stationary becomes physically bad for you. To the previous poster, try sitting and playing a strategy game for 6 to 10 hours. You should feel like shit afterwords.
Putting my adult body through sitting in a school desk 5 days a week, my health would be in serious trouble within a few months.
Haven't there been studies on this? The human brain is not good at absorbing information after durations longer than this. It has to have time to process information before it can build on top of it. This is why khan academy and duolingo are so effective, too - you consume little bites of knowledge, go away and process them, and then come back.
Entertainment is not the same thing as learning. Videogames and movies are so completely different from the learning process. Yeah, you can learn from them, but for that amount of time not to be taxing you have to fill it with other stuff. Like a storyline and action and drama. They have passive elements which constitute most of their length.
The constant force-stream of modern classrooms is what makes them so dull and tiring, and gives us stupid kids and disappointing graduates. I think it's pretty awesome that they get to focus for half an hour and learn at their own pace (the most critical part), then get to enjoy being kids for a while.