Basically it was saying that when we use an electronic devise for writing, or doing math, or even reading our brains are less actively involved in the process.
I basically agree with this, or did until I had a child for whom handwriting is painful and difficult. Now, we're looking at typing as a very real solution to a serious problem. Having teachers who are open to tech in the classroom is very helpful for us.
I will also say that DS's first grade teacher did marvelous projects with school-owned iPads. The kids used them for oral history recordings at the nursing home, then wrote about the oral history (pencil-paper writing), then used an app that let them turn the oral history material into a kind of puppet-show dialogue about past and present that they took back to the nursing home to show the residents. The kids also did some teaching to help the residents learn to use the iPads. It was premised on human engagement, not the technology itself, but the technology added some nice aspects to it all.
I don't think any technology is particularly good or bad -- but how it's used is very important. Bad teaching will not be fixed by technology, and may be made worse by it.
DeeDee
