Bringing Up an E-Reader

Article is not the original works of Peta-Gay Lewis

By THOMAS J. FITZGERALD
Published: March 28, 2012

Julianna Huth, a second grader at Green Primary School, in Green, Ohio, is a convert to the digital word.

The 8-year-old uses both an iPad and a Nook, and she enjoys e-books at home and at school.

“It’s just cool that you can read on your iPad,” said Julianna, who started using e-books when she was 6. “It’s more fun and you learn more from it.”

Children would say that. Books on iPads and some e-readers like the Nook Color or the Kindle Fire are fun. They include music, animation and other interactive elements that make reading a book feel like playing a video game.

In “Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes,” an e-book for children ages 3 to 7, they can change the color of Pete’s shoes by touching them, sing along to music with the lyrics that roll along the page, listen to a narrator or record their voices as they read aloud.

But is it better than a book? It may take a generation to ever know for sure, and even 10 or 20 years from now it will be debated as the effects of television or video games are still discussed today.

Julianna’s teacher, Kourtney Denning, sees e-books as essential. “Old books don’t really cut it anymore,” she said. “We have to transform our learning as we know it.”

Amid the excitement and enthusiasm, some people are suggesting a closer look, especially for younger children learning to read. “Right now, the state-of-the-art, in terms of research-based practice is: read traditional books with your child,” said Julia Parish-Morris, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania who has studied e-books and how children interact with them. “We don’t have any evidence that any kind of electronic device is better than a parent.”

In an attempt to figure out whether parents should embrace e-books with great enthusiasm or ration e-reader screen time as they do TV time, Julianna’s class is participating in a research project for the Center for Literacy at the University of Akron.

The project is meant to find the best way to integrate e-books into classrooms. It is part of a broader study of kindergartners through second graders using a range of devices and computers.

Julianna’s mother, Cathy Ivancic, was elated when she learned the class would take part in the study. She said that devices like the iPad were new and fun and gave children an incentive to read, including those who might be reluctant. “It’s a new motivation to explore reading,” she said. “At this age is when you learn to love reading, or not love reading.”

Ms. Ivancic’s other daughter, Jessica, 13, also uses an e-reader, preferring e-books over traditional books because they are easier to read. “And in between books you can play apps,” she said.

Ms. Parish-Morris and educators are concerned that children can be distracted by the animations and gamelike features within e-books. Maintaining a focus on the story is important in developing literacy skills, they said.

One way this happens spontaneously is through a back-and-forth dialogue that develops naturally between a parent and child sharing a book.

“The most important thing is sitting and talking with your children,” said Gabrielle Strouse, an adjunct assistant professor at Vanderbilt who has studied e-books. “Whether you’re reading a book, whether you’re reading an e-book, whether you’re watching a video. Co-interacting, co-viewing, is the best way for them to learn.”

Lisa Guernsey, director of the early education initiative at the New America Foundation, says conversations about how events of a story relate to the child’s own life, or asking open-ended questions about what happened, are examples of spontaneous dialogue. But this kind of interaction is often different with e-books, she said, and in some cases, disappears.

“We are seeing some evidence that parents expect the e-books to do it all and are stepping back from the engagement with their children,” she said.

Cristy Ludrosky, another parent with a child in Mrs. Denning’s class, is an advocate of e-books, although she does have concerns about the potential for distractions. “There’s this struggle there,” she said. “Sometimes you look at it and you are thinking, ‘Are they reading or learning to read, or are they playing an app or a game?’ ”