Why Books are better than E-Books for School Kids

Believe it or not, when parents read to their children from an E-Book and an actual book, there are major differences when it comes to the child's understanding and mental development. Even though this may sound slightly weird, Lisa Guernsey of the New America Foundation’s Early Education Initiative, believes that when we read with a child on an e-reader, we may actually impede our child’s ability to learn. Ms. Guernsey interpreted recent research on childhood literacy for Time magazine, and found that parents interact differently with children over an e-reader than over a physical book. That difference may make children slower to read and comprehend a story.

Children sitting with a parent while an e-reader reads to them understand significantly less of what’s read than those hearing a parent read. Researchers at Temple University, where the study was done, noted that parents reading books aloud regularly asked children questions about the book: “What do you think will happen next?” Parents sitting with the child while a device read to them (like a LeapPad or some iPad apps) didn’t ask these questions, or relate images or incidents in the book to the child’s real life. Instead, their conversation was focused on how to use the device: “Careful! Push here. Hold it this way.”

Ms. Guernsey, observing videos of parents reading to their children from iPads, found a tendency to do the same, even when the device wasn’t doing the reading. Readers with an e-reader were focused on the device, not the story. Children whose parents talk to them about what they’re reading gain reading skills faster, but children reading with parents from digital rather than physical books aren’t getting as much of that kind of interaction.

This doesn't mean you should not use devices at all, instead of substituting real books with E-Books, you should make the E-Books an addition to real books. Maybe if your child wants to play on the iPad, you could make it a rule to read a book on it before that. Also, if you are reading to your child from an E-Book focus on the story and your child rather than the device. 

Via: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/28/why-books-are-better-than-e-books-for-children/

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