Latino students are the largest ethnic or racial group to use mobile devices for homework, according to a recent study.
A TRU survey polled 1,000 students in grades 6 through 8. Researchers found that 68 percent of Latinos use laptop computers for homework, versus 64 percent of black students and 62 percent of white students. Thirty-eight percent of Latino students used tablets, and 49 percent of Latino use smartphones for homework, according to a recent article.
“Using social technology is a much more efficient way to reach some of the goals teachers are trying to reach,” said Reynol Junco, a Faculty Associate at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. “It takes a little bit of extra time, but the payoff is so much more when you integrate this new technology in the classroom.”
According to Stuckey Kirk of the Verizon Foundation, allowing students to use mobile devices to learn math and science “can hook them for life, and graduating with a STEM degree can give many of these children higher earning potential. We have to level the playing field.” STEM is education professional shorthand for Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics.
The report also found that Latino students use the devices more often than other groups. Sixty-five percent of Latino students use laptops more than once a week, compared to 57 percent of black students and 54 percent of white students.
As the students grow up, the data remains consistent: A report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project finds that 66% of Latino adults use their cell phones to access the internet, compared to 60% of African-American adults and 52% of non-Latino white adults.
