Technology in classrooms?

I felt a need to share this article from the newspaper this morning:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/111691580/major-distraction-australian-primary-school-dumps-ipads-returns-to-paper-textbooks?cid=app-iPhone

After a few years of using tablets the children, when surveyed said that they were more comfortable using paper texts etc rather than the technology.

Good on the school for asking the students what they preferred rather than going along with what many people are saying is the "way forward"

A couple of years ago, I was sent a measurement activity by a colleague in Canada.  By memory it required the students to do practical measurement tasks. The author asked for feedback about the effectiveness of the activity.  Most were favourable as it was a great activity.  One comment caught my eye, and it made me reply react negatively.

The comment, viz, "A great activity it would be better if it was an App for tablets as we are an iPad School"

You may want to know why I reacted as I did.

How does one understand measurement without physically measuring? 

How does technology help you understand how long a metre is? how heavy is a gram or kilogram?  Technology is working in the extreme abstract and students(many) do not think in the abstract but think in the "concrete"

It is similar to the debate about Analogue and Digital watches and clocks.  For most students they can read time from a Digital output, but with an Analogue they can measure time as they see how far the hands move.  To be able to measure time from a Digital Screen the students have to be able use 3 digit subtraction, understand that there are 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour (NOT 100)

To me, all measurement for children should start and be strongly practical.

We need to start with which COMPARISONS
       Which one is longer/shorter/ heavier etc. Between two then increasing the numbers for the comparisons, when reasonable fluent in determining the correct comparisons we move to
                 Measurement by UNCONVENTIONAL UNITS how many Lego blocks long? How many Lego blocks does this weigh? How many bounces of a ball till Mary has run around the block? again as fluency and competence is shown we can move students to
                Measuring with STANDARD UNITS

Please realise this is not and instant move from one to the other stage, but a gradual one that does in some cases take years.

When we converted to Metrics I had occasion to go and by some plasterboard.  Into the buildre's yard I went and asked for a sheet of 1.2 x 2.4 Gibboard.  Sorry sir but we do not sell that!  What do you sell?  1200 x 2400 Gibboard. I would suggest this was an example of a person who did not have a great grasp of measurement or the decimal system