Article Critique

1.Provide the Complete Article Title and Author.
2.State the Intended Audience. (What is emperical research and how does it help the classroom?)

A study completed by Kurt A. Suhr, David A. Hernandez, Douglas Grimes, and Mark Warschauer called "Laptops and Fourth Grade Literacy: Assisting the Jump over the Fourth-Grade Slump" was completed to determine if the use of laptops in the classroom could improve literacy scores. This emperical research provides knowledge by obersevation or experience. Emperical research can aid in the classroom by providing active learning for students instead of just using traditional methods. This research was performed for school districts all over the country.

3. What is/are the research question/questions or hypothesis/hypotheses?

There were three research questions associated with this study. 1. Were there significant differences in the total ELA score changes in the California Standards Test (CST) over the two year period from third grade to fifth grade between the one-to-one laptop group and the non-laptop group, after controlling for other factors?
2. Were there significant differences in the six subtests used to compute those total ELA scores for the same two groups? 3. 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? (Grimes, Hernandez, Suhr, & Warschauer, 2010).

4. Describe the subject(participants)and the procedures(methods)used by the researchers?

There were a total of 108 students used in this study. Of the 108 students, there were 55 girls and 53 boys. Twelve students participated in the Gates program. The group was made up of a variety of ethnicities which included 50 Asian, 1 Filipino, 7 Hispanic, 1 Pacific Islander, 49 Caucasian, and 1 labeled as a English Language Learner. Three schools were used in the study. School #1 was made up of 44 students, school #2 was made up of 22 students, and school #3 was made up of 42 students. The treatment group, the students using laptops, was made up of 54 fourth-grade students. The control group, the students not using laptops, was made up of 54 fourth-grade students as well. The research was performed for two years, the student's fourth grade and fifth grade school year. Their ELA 3rd grade scores were compared to their ELA fifth grade scores to see if there was an increase with the use of laptops.

5. What were the conclusions of the researchers? Do you agree or disagree with the conclusions? Support your position.

After the study was completed, the researchers revealed that the laptop students outperfomed the non-laptop students. I agree with this conclusion, because I feel that students respond and are more interested when technology is used. When students are engaged and take ownership of their learning there scores will increase. Practioners have cited over the years a number of reasons why we should integrate technology into teaching. They are to motivate students, to make students and teachers work more productively, and to help students learn and sharpen their information age skills (Roblyer and Doering 2013).

6. What suggestions for further research do the authors suggest? What other suggestions for future research would you suggest?

Further research, with larger sample sizes, more diverse student demographics, longitudinal evaluation, a wider array of outcome measures (including those taken on both paper and computer and those involving both standardized tests and alternative forms of assessment), and, where possible, random assignment, will help continue to shed light on the effects of laptop use on literacy and learning (Grimes, Hernandez, Suhr, & Warschauer, 2010). I suggest that for further research, how technology is used in the classroom, how much time is used each day using technology, and how knowledgeable the teacher is about technology should also be considered.