Sweden Swaps Screens For Books In the Classroom (arstechnica.com)
- Reference: 0181201162
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/04/01/1557223/sweden-swaps-screens-for-books-in-the-classroom
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/04/sweden-goes-back-to-basics-swapping-screens-for-books-in-the-classroom/
> In 2023, the Swedish government [1]announced that the country's schools would be going back to basics, emphasizing skills such as reading and writing, particularly in early grades. After mostly being sidelined, physical books are [2]now being reintroduced into classrooms , and students are learning to write the old-fashioned way: by hand, with a pencil or pen, on sheets of paper. The Swedish government also [3]plans to make schools cellphone-free throughout the country.
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> Educational authorities have been investing heavily. Last year alone, the education ministry [4]allocated $83 million to purchase textbooks and teachers' guides. In a country with about 11 million people, the [5]aim is for every student to have a physical textbook for each subject. The government also put $54 million towards the purchase of fiction and non-fiction books for students.
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> These moves represent a dramatic pivot from [6]previous decades, during which Sweden -- and many other nations -- [7]moved away from physical books [8]in favor of tablets and digital resources in an effort to prepare students for life in an online world. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Nordic country's efforts have sparked a [9]debate on the role of digital technology in education, one that extends well beyond the country's borders. US parents in districts that have adopted digital technology to a great extent may be wondering if educators will reverse course, too.
As for why Sweden is pivoting away from digital devices, researcher Linda Falth said the move was driven by several factors, including concerns over whether the digitization of classrooms had been evidence-based. "There was also a broader cultural reassessment," Falth said. "Sweden had positioned itself as a frontrunner in digital education, but over time concerns emerged about screen time, distraction, reduced deep reading, and the erosion of foundational skills such as sustained attention and handwriting."
Falth noted that proponents of reform believe that "basic skills -- especially reading, writing, and numeracy -- must be firmly established first, and that physical textbooks are often better suited for that purpose."
Further reading: [10]Digital Platforms Correlate With Cognitive Decline in Young Users
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/11/sweden-says-back-to-basics-schooling-works-on-paper
[2] https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/04/sweden-goes-back-to-basics-swapping-screens-for-books-in-the-classroom/
[3] https://swedenherald.com/article/government-to-introduce-mobile-phone-ban-in-primary-schools-this-autumn
[4] https://www.thetimes.com/uk/get-britain-reading/article/sweden-schools-books-classrooms-5fbp0bvc7?
[5] https://www.government.se/articles/2024/02/government-investing-in-more-reading-time-and-less-screen-time/
[6] https://www.ri.se/en/story/digitalised-schools-more-than-simply-programming-and-source-criticism#:~:text=The%20Swedish%20Government%20has%20decided%20that%20all,programme%20and%20to%20critically%20review%20online%20news
[7] https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/cx24mw7r9glo
[8] https://world-education-blog.org/2024/07/15/are-digital-textbooks-the-way-of-the-future-can-publishers-keep-up/#:~:t
[9] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360131524000289
[10] https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/10/14/0643226/digital-platforms-correlate-with-cognitive-decline-in-young-users
Physical books good (Score:2)
Maybe it was just because I was a nerd, but I found the annual new crop of textbooks and workbooks exciting. I can't imagine my reaction to the same old device (more or less) every year.
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Dunno! Ebooks have grown on me: the fact that I can carry any number of them on an iPad and not have to worry about their weight, their physical shelf storage or the question of paper rotting over time. Also, if I use dark mode to read them, then I can even do it at night lying down in bed
As for writing, while I used to write in school and college as a kid, ever since computers, I've been using software like Word and over the decades, I'm now a faster typist than writer. I also find myself wasting a lo
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I love my e-ink reader. I can read anything anywhere, and when my last book is finished, the next read is just a tap away. But that's just for linear reading. When I'm studying, I might be flipping back and forth through a syllabus, or have several of them open side by side. That works poorly on a tablet. On the plus side, with a tablet or latop, students no longer have to carry an unhealthy amount of heavy books to school.
As for using a laptop for taking notes, I find that to be way more distractin
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Quantity vs Quality.
All of your points are true, but they are arguments of quantity over quality. You have more books, you can write faster, etc.
Especially at an early age, students benefit from an emphasis on quality over quantity. Real books, with subjects read slowly and studied in depth. Thoughtful consideration before putting pen to paper. Taking physical notes. (I absolutely hated taking notes in class but it has a documented relationship to remembering the information.) etc.
Introducing computer-
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Points taken. But that said,...
If I type something, I'm just as likely to remember it as if I write something. Question is - which of them do I do faster? If one is new to computers or typing, then probably writing would be faster, and that's what one should do. But in university, when I was for a while addicted to Usenet, I used to type a lot of stuff in newsgroups, which made me a fast typist very quickly. And that has followed me since
I don't completely disagree w/ you on introducing computers/t
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> If I type something, I'm just as likely to remember it as if I write something.
I feel that way as well, but the evidence is that for the general population it is not true.
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> ... I can carry any number of them on an iPad and not have to worry about their weight ....
To be fair, walking a mile to school with several heavy textbook in a backpack was good physical conditioning. :-)
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I'd recommend swimming for a more well rounded exercise. All one's body muscles get exercised, and bonus - one doesn't end up w/ more BO as a result of sweat
Digital workbooks can personalize, that helps .... (Score:1)
> Maybe it was just because I was a nerd, but I found the annual new crop of textbooks and workbooks exciting. I can't imagine my reaction to the same old device (more or less) every year.
Well that old device does have a new set of digital textbooks and workbooks. :-) And digital workbooks, when done correctly, watch you solve a problem and evaluate your understanding of key concepts. Allowing the workbook to be more personalized and not bore the student with things they have already mastered.
But absent such advanced software, yeah, paper is probably better than a PDF for K-12 students. Plus young students do need to learn to use paper, pen, and pencil as a backup to the digital.
Let me be the first cranky old guy to complain... (Score:2)
Let me be the first to complain about the improper use of the DEC logo. Again.
What the heck does DEC have anything to do with this story?
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Feelings of nostalgia?
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it involves fingers, so it's digital
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Most likely, nobody who runs this site was alive when DEC was in operation.
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My first computer was the PDP-11 owned by my college.
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Maybe there is a course on OpenVMS?
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> Let me be the first to complain about the improper use of the DEC logo. Again. What the heck does DEC have anything to do with this story?
All those VAX and PDP-11 books and manuals on paper. I still have mine for some reason. :-)
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I once had a thick book on the Alpha, which I donated to the local library after Compaq discontinued the CPU. Looking back, I wish it had existed as an ebook, when I see YouTube videos resurrecting retro boxes
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I noted that in a separate post below. Maybe it's time for /. editors to come up w/ a new icon to represent digital trends. Maybe the icon of a computer or something?
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It's an inside joke. I came to appreciate it. It does not create confusion since the brand is defunct and reminds us of a glorious past. Like they could put a Sun logo for photovoltaics.
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Would be pretty misleading, since neither Sun Microsystems nor Oracle ever got into PhotoVoltaics. Just like DEC never created computers that could be easily used in classrooms: schools were never their target market segment
good (Score:2)
You need computer related classes, but you don't need computers in every classroom. Most of the time it's a distraction.
Too many distractions (Score:3)
The biggest problem with screen-based classrooms is that the devices themselves are not designed for that purpose. There's too many games, chats, reminders, notices, updates, etc. etc. etc. that make it a fun and engaging device as a toy but terrible for maintaining concentration and focus on specific content. It is also more difficult for the teacher to be able to quickly look across a group of 30 and see who is doing the assigned task when the screens are all pointed away from the teacher (toward the student).
There are some features that are missing in physical books, such as the ability to long-tap on a word and get a definition, but those sorts of benefits do not outweigh the downsides.
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Maybe have them locked down such that students can't install any new software on them, and also ensure that they only have the programs needed by the course - electronic textbooks, maybe MS Office - Home & Student.... Maybe keep these computers on a LAN (so that school staff can communicate w/ them), but not connected to the internet ! Then kids wouldn't be able to go to OnlyFans or play online games
As for making sure that kids are doing their exercises, either walk around the class, as they might do
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> Maybe have them locked down such that students can't install any new software on them, and also ensure that they only have the programs needed by the course - electronic textbooks, maybe MS Office - Home & Student.... Maybe keep these computers on a LAN (so that school staff can communicate w/ them), but not connected to the internet ! Then kids wouldn't be able to go to OnlyFans or play online games
When I was a high school teacher (2014-2019) most students had school-issued chromebooks. These were locked down pretty hard and I never saw students install unapproved software on one. But it didn't matter. There are plenty of games you can play in a web browser, or just watch youtube videos of other kids playing games.
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That's what: since these chromebooks are school issued, the school should do something like have them all connected to a school LAN server, but w/ no connection to the external internet. That way, everything is locked down. Even if one opens Chrome, one wouldn't be able to access anything outside the LAN
DEC logo? (Score:2)
Why does /. use the old logo of Digital Equipment Corporation when it wants to signal that the story is about societal trends about whether or not to embrace computerization? That has nothing to do w/ the company which hasn't been around since 1998. Maybe use something different, like a computer logo or something
Infinite scrolling ... (Score:5, Funny)
... is broken on these book things. You reach the end of the text, then there's this stupid number. And then what?
Need to go back to film strips! (Score:2)
and slides on overhead projectors.
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Unironically, yes. A whiteboard or a blackboard is all you need. No videos in classroom except for special occasions.
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Yeah, that would be to PowerPoint what going back to paper and pen would be to Word/Wordpad/Notepad
Books good, no batteries required (Score:2)
When it comes to computer topics, I seek out good book, like `The C Programming` language when I was 14 or research papers for a coding project. PDFs ok in a pinch, but being able to sit in a cafe, a waiting room, airplane, etc. and read without issue is nice. They go any where and don't need a power outlet. For my own books, I pencil notes in the margins. And not just tech. books, but fiction too. A good'ol paperback tuck in my wait band behind my back or in a large coat pocket. Books work. They e
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I do now prefer ebooks to pdf's, since the former can be read almost in a book form using apps such as Nook
AI can help here (Score:2)
When they were introducing the chromebooks in the US it was a mess of assertions not backed by any facts I could discern, and competing motivations, I suspect the biggest among them was the idea that if the kids submitted all their work digitally it would be less of a chore to grade, and that kids could be more heavily tested and auto-graded if all the tests were computer-based.
All the benefits seemed to go to the teachers, administrators, and polititians, with little benefit to the students.
With AI, I supp
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Chromebooks had zero to do with education. They were 100% about Google forcing every high school student to have a Google account as early as possible. I bet less than 1% of parents said, "No, we're not doing that. Here's a Ubuntu laptop instead. Never sign in to Google, cause I said so."
Everyone wants digital tracking of every human: governments (via ID programs), Google, Meta (both are pretty much governments at this point), Anthropic, OpenAI ... they all want to know exactly who everyone is. They all
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> When they were introducing the chromebooks in the US it was a mess of assertions not backed by any facts I could discern, and competing motivations, I suspect the biggest among them was the idea that if the kids submitted all their work digitally it would be less of a chore to grade, and that kids could be more heavily tested and auto-graded if all the tests were computer-based.
> All the benefits seemed to go to the teachers, administrators, and polititians, with little benefit to the students.
And Google. Those bastards got piles of money and even bigger piles of data to mine.
Turn to page 24 (Score:2)
(in the margins)
Turn to page 122
Turn to page 65
Turn to page 89
Turn to page 44
Turn to page 12
Turn to page 56
Turn to page 35
Turn to page 55
Turn to page 77
Turn to page 130
Turn to page 120
Turn to page 110
Thank you for letting me waste your time.
Other measures (Score:2)
They will also be replacing the LED lighting in the schools with candles, and heat will be provided by hand-stoked coal furnaces.
For you youngsters ... (Score:2)
> [*Scottish accent*] ... a book - if you don't know - is like a blog except bigger.
> -- [1]Craig Ferguson [wikipedia.org]
It's also more papery.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Ferguson
It should have been technology to assist (Score:2)
Who could have figured that over relying on technology, well, failing to teach the basics, was a bad idea! I'm in Ontario, Canada, and I have two daughters, one in secondary school, one in primary, and the over-reliance on technology is crazy. Technology isn't assisting anything, it's not helping, it's not shifting workloads, it's become the master, the kids are the servants.
The kids have to use Google Classroom and Google Docs for everything, and it does matter what the topic is. They've built AI into
when in doubt (Score:2)
Don't computer.
Paper, iPad, Kindle Peperwhite - all of the above (Score:2)
For really important technical references I still prefer paper books. For the most important of these I also get the digital version on iPad, just in case I need the reference when on the road. But a regular work office, home office, or in the lazy room recliner just keeping up to date ... I prefer paper books to iPad. Readable charts and graphics and better high lighting and notes in the margins.
For non-reference stuff, regular books for fun ... Kindle paper white is better than paper or iPad. The iPad