18th September 2015 1:00
By Blue Tutors
A recent study carried out by researchers at the University of Cambridge found that the more hours GCSE students spend watching screens each day, the less well they do in their exams. This includes TV, computers and smart phones, all of which, according to researchers, have a negative impact on students’ ability to perform well. I imagine that the tutors and teachers reading this particular headline are hardly surprised – we all know that hours spent watching TV or playing computer games are bad for study. What is interesting to us is not to know that this is bad for students, but rather to examine the patterns of these students’ lives in order to help us to help them. Why do some students spend more time in front of a screen than others, what broader impact does this have on students’ ability to study, and how can we improve each student’s study skills?
The study found that just an hour extra TV watching per day adversely affected students’ results by an average of 9 points. This fairly dramatic finding has resulted in parents being advised to limit their children’s television watching. Of course this is not necessarily a bad idea, but tutors who work closely with individual students know that the reality is a bit more complicated. Three hours of television a day for some students many have a very different impact on students depending on their backgrounds and home lives.
Some students have quite set routines – they complete their homework and/or revision, and then settle in to watch television or play computer games, a reward which, whilst it might not be best for education development, does not impede their revision or school work. In other cases, students begin by watching television and leave their revision or homework till later when they are tired and distracted, which certainly has a negative impact on the quality of their work. In most cases, it is a poor routine or an absence of one, or various other difficulties at home that causes problems with work; the number of hours spent watching television is often merely a symptom of broader problems rather than the cause of poor academic performance.