למידה, אינטרנט ... ומה שביניהם

New brain research suggests that distractions that divide students' attention--such as surfing the web or sending instant messages--can affect the way they learn, making the knowledge they gain harder to use later on. The study could have important implications for today's students, many of whom are accustomed to multitasking while completing homework or listening in class.

It's a tiny study (14 students) using dubious measurments (brain imaging) and employing very artificial conditions (I mean, who tries to count high pitched tones while studying?) but that of course won't stop the headline from being splashed across the front page of the newspaper - or in this case, eSchool News.

These researchers, however slipshod their methodology, may one day prove to have been right in spite of themselves. Those of us who took our degrees before "multitasking" was a concept, can scarcely deny that our thinking, and the written expression of our thoughts and ideas, was rather less muddleheaded back then. To follow a single thread of inquiry to its logical, aesthetic, or practical conclusion is what scholars, scientists and artists do. Or did. Now it's more likely to be a blog entry (ironic, eh?) in the first two cases, and a "mashup" in the third.