Whitney Gaddis

FRIT 7237
Article Critique 3

Article Reference
Lowther, D. L., Ross, S. M., & Morrison, G. M. (2003). When each one has one: The influences
on teaching strategies and student achievement of using laptops in the classroom.
Educational Technology Research and Development, 51(3), 23-44.
doi:10.1007/bf02504551

Article Summary
This study the educational effects of fifth, sixth, and seventh grade students who have access 24
hours a day to laptop computers. This study focuses particularly on the impact that 24 hour
access of laptops have on classroom activities, student use of technology, and student writing and
problem solving skills. The main question of this study is whether or not the design and delivery
of technology based instruction would be more reasonable for teachers if students have constant
access to laptops. The study suggests that a 1:1 computer-to-student ratio will be an advantage of
student access as well as a student-to-home advantage that will link what the students are
learning at school to home. This study was designed to provide further insight into how much
student educational experiences are influenced by school laptop programs. The first part of this
study that was performed was the Pilot Study. The pilot study consisted of twenty-six fifth and
sixth grade teachers that participated in seventy plus hours of technology training. The teachers
were trained to use problem and project based instruction along with other resources and student
collaboration to let students explore and solve real world issues. In this pilot study, two classes
per grade level were chosen in the Crossriver School District to participate in the study. Of these
classes, only students who were given grants or were able to pay the fifty dollar monthly lease
fee for the laptops were able to participate in the study. The results of the pilot study showed the
differences between classrooms with the use of laptops and the classrooms without. The

classrooms who had access to technology and whose teachers had received professional
development were more student centered. Parents felt that their students were more interested in
their education. The main drawbacks concluded during the pilot study were the logistics of
taking computers from school to home and back, equipment breakdowns, and more professional
development needed.
Article Critique
Overall I found this study to be very interesting, but there are a few things that I believe could
have been done differently to make the results more valid and reliable. One of the first issues that
I found alarming in the pilot study is that not all students in the classrooms chosen were given
the opportunity to participate in the pilot study. I believe for the findings of the pilot study to be
reliable all students of all economic means should have had the opportunity to participate in the
study. This would mean that students with different home lives would have had the same
opportunity. I believe that if ALL students who could not afford the fifty dollar monthly lease fee
for laptops should have been given the grant and the results of the pilot study would have been
different. To ensure that the results of the study are reliable, I would make sure that the classes of
the control group as well as the ones in the laptop study should have been very similar in
different ways. One class in the control group and one in the laptop program should have the
same makeup of class size, grades, learning levels, and male to female ratio. I believe that if
classes were paired together and only compared to another that was very similar in different
ways; the results would be more valid. I believe that there are many other factors other than
students having constant access to technology that can affect student achievement. More
information about the students in the control classes as well as the classes participating in the
laptop study is needed.