Credibility Of Cell Phones Essay
1
There are so many different studies on whether cell phone use in college
classes potentially affects their learning ability. Through the criteria’s of statistics, expert opinion, and the use of scientific process I’m going to compare the scientific credibility of two different articles. One being from NBC News and the other being a peer reviewed journal article. Whether you’re in middle school, high school, or college this information is important to know because it can help you improve or hurt your learning ability. The scientific journal ended up being more credible and was the most reliable source; in the following paragraphs I’ll explain why.
The first of the two sources was an article from NBC News, which …show more content…
was standing up for cell phone use in college classrooms. Instead of thinking of cell phones as negative learning tools the idea that cell phones enhance students learning is
expressed.
The second source was a peer reviewed scientific journal and the idea that cell phones are distracting over anything comes into play. Students will learn material more effectively when they aren’t engaged in text messaging and on their mobile device the whole class. Now the question is which source has better scientific credibility. The NBC news article “Cell phones welcome in some classrooms” by Kharif
(2008) was the less credible source because of three main criteria’s. The first criteria of credibility that was missing from this article was statistics and numbers to help support Kharif’s ideas. The statistics were that of 700 teens that got surveyed, 71 percent already owned cell phones, while only 59 percent own computers. This is to show that students have more access to cell phones then computers. Also Sprint
Wardell 2 Nextel’s educational subscriber base increased 7 percent in the past year, to 750,000 users nationwide. As you can see, the stats throughout this article were too broad and didn’t give the reader enough information. It needed to have more supporting data to help for a stronger claim (Kharif, 2008).
Not only were the statistics and numbers not credible but also there wasn’t
any use of the scientific process. The article has a good claim and without any evidence to back it up it does nothing. The purpose wasn’t clear through the paper and the conclusion was confusing too. The only criteria that made this article somewhat credible were the use of expert opinion. It makes for stronger arguments when there’s evidence form an expert in that field. For an example there was information about how cell phones with fold out keyboards could even supplant a laptop in classrooms by senior vice-presidents at Qualcomm (Kharif, 2008).
In contrast the Mississippi State University article “College student’s cell phone use, beliefs, and effects on there learning by Elder (2013) makes for a more scientifically credible article. The statistics and numbers in this article made it more credible and believable. For example in one study both students and faculty equally reported that cell phones were distracting (85%) and that vibrating phones in a classroom (49%) were problematic. There is data recorded for the age, race, gender, and act scores of the different participants in this study (Elder, 2013).
To go along with the statistics, the scientific process was presented clearly with each specific part identified and easy to interpret. It was split up into the research purpose, methods, procedures, results and discussion, and finally the conclusion.
Elder’s method consisted of first listing the number of participants that were apart of
Wardell 3 this study. Next is the instruments needed to complete this study which was a cell phone use questionnaire that had 30 questions on it. In the procedure step it explains how the students will be handed the questionnaire while able to use their cell phones as much as possible. Then they give the students another test and don’t let them use their cell phones to see whether cell phones effect the ability to retain information.
This process made the information more credible because it was organized and supported the claim (Elder, 2013).
The last criteria that made Elder’s article scientifically more credible would be the use of expert opinion and how credible those sources are. For every point that has to be made there’s an in-text citation that allows the reader to check out each specific source. For example, in the introduction Elder makes a statement that 53% of students report using cell phones for text purposes and cited (Burns & Lohenry, 2010) which tells me that that information is credible and is the truth (Elder, 2013).
After reading this paper hopefully there’s a better understanding on why students shouldn’t have their cell phones during class time. The first criteria statistics played a huge role in determining which source was scientifically more credible out of the two. The expert opinion and the scientific process were the last criteria’s when looking at the articles credibility. The peer-reviewed journal was the most credible and the NBC News article was found to be the least credible. So there you have it students, leave your phones at home and you’ll learn better.
Wardell 4 References
•
Kharif, O. (2008, September 5). Cell phones welcome in some classrooms.
NBC News, Retrieved from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26510338/ns/technology_and_scienceback_to_school/ •
ELDER, A. D. (2013). College students ' cell phone use, beliefs, and effects on their learning. College Student Journal, 47(4), 585-592.
There are so many different studies on whether cell phone use in college
classes potentially affects their learning ability. Through the criteria’s of statistics, expert opinion, and the use of scientific process I’m going to compare the scientific credibility of two different articles. One being from NBC News and the other being a peer reviewed journal article. Whether you’re in middle school, high school, or college this information is important to know because it can help you improve or hurt your learning ability. The scientific journal ended up being more credible and was the most reliable source; in the following paragraphs I’ll explain why.
The first of the two sources was an article from NBC News, which …show more content…
was standing up for cell phone use in college classrooms. Instead of thinking of cell phones as negative learning tools the idea that cell phones enhance students learning is
expressed.
The second source was a peer reviewed scientific journal and the idea that cell phones are distracting over anything comes into play. Students will learn material more effectively when they aren’t engaged in text messaging and on their mobile device the whole class. Now the question is which source has better scientific credibility. The NBC news article “Cell phones welcome in some classrooms” by Kharif
(2008) was the less credible source because of three main criteria’s. The first criteria of credibility that was missing from this article was statistics and numbers to help support Kharif’s ideas. The statistics were that of 700 teens that got surveyed, 71 percent already owned cell phones, while only 59 percent own computers. This is to show that students have more access to cell phones then computers. Also Sprint
Wardell 2 Nextel’s educational subscriber base increased 7 percent in the past year, to 750,000 users nationwide. As you can see, the stats throughout this article were too broad and didn’t give the reader enough information. It needed to have more supporting data to help for a stronger claim (Kharif, 2008).
Not only were the statistics and numbers not credible but also there wasn’t
any use of the scientific process. The article has a good claim and without any evidence to back it up it does nothing. The purpose wasn’t clear through the paper and the conclusion was confusing too. The only criteria that made this article somewhat credible were the use of expert opinion. It makes for stronger arguments when there’s evidence form an expert in that field. For an example there was information about how cell phones with fold out keyboards could even supplant a laptop in classrooms by senior vice-presidents at Qualcomm (Kharif, 2008).
In contrast the Mississippi State University article “College student’s cell phone use, beliefs, and effects on there learning by Elder (2013) makes for a more scientifically credible article. The statistics and numbers in this article made it more credible and believable. For example in one study both students and faculty equally reported that cell phones were distracting (85%) and that vibrating phones in a classroom (49%) were problematic. There is data recorded for the age, race, gender, and act scores of the different participants in this study (Elder, 2013).
To go along with the statistics, the scientific process was presented clearly with each specific part identified and easy to interpret. It was split up into the research purpose, methods, procedures, results and discussion, and finally the conclusion.
Elder’s method consisted of first listing the number of participants that were apart of
Wardell 3 this study. Next is the instruments needed to complete this study which was a cell phone use questionnaire that had 30 questions on it. In the procedure step it explains how the students will be handed the questionnaire while able to use their cell phones as much as possible. Then they give the students another test and don’t let them use their cell phones to see whether cell phones effect the ability to retain information.
This process made the information more credible because it was organized and supported the claim (Elder, 2013).
The last criteria that made Elder’s article scientifically more credible would be the use of expert opinion and how credible those sources are. For every point that has to be made there’s an in-text citation that allows the reader to check out each specific source. For example, in the introduction Elder makes a statement that 53% of students report using cell phones for text purposes and cited (Burns & Lohenry, 2010) which tells me that that information is credible and is the truth (Elder, 2013).
After reading this paper hopefully there’s a better understanding on why students shouldn’t have their cell phones during class time. The first criteria statistics played a huge role in determining which source was scientifically more credible out of the two. The expert opinion and the scientific process were the last criteria’s when looking at the articles credibility. The peer-reviewed journal was the most credible and the NBC News article was found to be the least credible. So there you have it students, leave your phones at home and you’ll learn better.
Wardell 4 References
•
Kharif, O. (2008, September 5). Cell phones welcome in some classrooms.
NBC News, Retrieved from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26510338/ns/technology_and_scienceback_to_school/ •
ELDER, A. D. (2013). College students ' cell phone use, beliefs, and effects on their learning. College Student Journal, 47(4), 585-592.