14 DAY TRIAL // The presence of notebooks in the classroom is a fact that can help boost motivation in children, Microsoft revealed. The conclusion comes from a study commissioned by the Redmond company to educational researchers from the Faculty of Education of Comenius University, and which involved students from two schools in Slovakia participating in the “Notebook per Every Pupil” project sponsored by Microsoft and Lenovo. The report indicated that the simple use of laptops is sufficient to fuel a more positive attitude towards studying. No less than 88% of Trstena pupils and 40% of Bosany pupils considered that they improved since the project was first debuted.
"A core tenet of Microsoft Unlimited Potential is that education is the cornerstone of economic opportunity, and any efforts to help young people realize their full potential must begin there," explained Jeremy Gittins, general manager for Microsoft Unlimited Potential in Central and Eastern Europe. "Together with our partners we are delivering a computing solution to these schoolchildren in Slovakia, and in other regions around the world, that will help them develop the skills they need to excel and create a foundation for a better life."
Peter Pallo, a teacher at Zakladna skola Rudolfa Dilonga primary school in Trstena, Slovakia, applauded the initiative. According to Microsoft, it is not only the students that get a boost in terms of motivation, but the teachers themselves too. The main benefit for the latter is that notebooks in particular, and technology in general, allow for new teaching strategies. The study also revealed that students from Trstena managed to best other classes when it came down to their confidence and general skills in a self-evaluation test.
"Successful education requires constant innovation, creative approaches and hard work on the side of teachers to motivate their pupils. The use of laptops and other technology in classrooms definitely facilitates this by making learning more interesting to pupils and teaching more exciting to educators," added Radomír Masaryk, PhD., head of the research team that prepared the study. "Moreover, incorporation of laptops into elementary education helps pupils develop skills that are very critical in today’s information society - such as researching in the internet, processing large quantities of information from different sources and working with text in general."