Los Angeles Leadership Academy High School

Research Project
Mayra Leon Valero
Nicholas Steed, English 12
Period:4

Since the beginning of time, teaching has been done by a person. There has always been a
person teaching people how to say, write, or read things. People did not have the technology we

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have now, but because we have it does not mean that we should let a machine teach our children
how to do math or read a book. Schools can impact the lives of students. Teachers will also have
an impact on students. School staff members form bonds with students and these bonds influence
the students. Many teachers are committed to their schools and their students. Teachers are
dedicated to giving their students the best education possible. Teachers allow more hands-onactivities for the kids. Doing hands-on-activities allows the children to start developing skills in
different things. For example, in a mechanics class, how is a computer is going to help the
student when it does something wrong after the computer gives it directions. There are things
that only a teacher can do. In school, we are taught different skill that can be used later in our
lives. Replacing teachers with computers can have a negative impact on how the student learns.
In the first place, teachers are a very important element to the educational process.
People teach other people that is how it has always worked. Teachers also offer the children
something other than education; they offer friendship and safety. It is in a teacher's best interest
to give the children the best education. When a student is behind on a subject, the teacher can
personally help the child move on to the next subject. A teacher is also at the school to keep the
students safe. In case of an emergency, what is a computer going to do to protect the students?
A computer does not have the emotions that a human has. The students come to trust the
teachers. There can not be a relationship with a computer, they can not form bonds with the
students, How is a student supposed to talk to a computer to obtain advice?
Changing elementary teachers with computers is not going to help the students.
Elementary school is the most important part of the schooling system because elementary school
is when children start learning all their basic skill like reading, writing, and counting. According
to CNN, Students with one highly effective elementary teacher are more likely to go to college,

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less likely to become pregnant as teens and earn tens of thousands over their lifetimes, ( Kopp
4/08/13) This proves that teachers are an essential part to the education of a child. Giving a child
a computer with a program is like abandoning the child and making them learn on their own. A
computer is not going to teach a child how to share or how to work as a team. Individual
learning may benefit some students, but not all students. Being independent is a good thing
when people are older not when they are kids.
A teacher can show the kids how to act responsibly. There is no way a computer can
teach things like responsibility to a child. CNN also said, Children growing up in poverty need
all the support and nurturing from adults they can get, ( Kopp 4/08/13) Children should be
getting support from teachers and their peers not from a computer. Computers do not have
experience like teachers do. Teachers worked to hard to be where they are now, they were not
built. There are things that a computer can not do, things that students will need help in. When
adults usually give advice, the usually use their experiences. Computers do not know what
experience is because they are not a living thing. So, how is a child going to receive support and
nurturing from a computer. Computers cannot comfort a student when he or she needs help; it
cannot offer advice about college or provide suggestions about what decisions to make.
Teachers do a lot of hands-on activities. There are many people who learn better when
they do hands-on activities. Project Discovery did research and found that hands-on experiences
increase students performance and motivation. Starting hands-on learning is very beneficial for
children. The research from Project Discovery found that Teachers who conduct hands-on
learning activities on a weekly basis out-perform their peers by more than 70% of a grade level
in math and 40% of a grade level in science, (Project Discovery 5/17/16) This research proves
that hands-on learning is effective. Hands-on learning provides the kids with skills that will be

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used later in their future. Some of the skills learned in school are required for future jobs.
Having hands-on learning is very important. It has been proven that when teachers do hands-on
activities, their students are believed to perform better than their peers and are believed to be
more successful. Also, there are many students who do not want to go to college; showing them
different skills can help push them into the direction where they can discover what they might
want to do.
An equally important consideration is how the student learns. If we replace a teacher
with a computer, will the computer move at the students pace or some predetermined pace?
What if the student is really behind? Or, what if the student cannot grasp the concept? The
computer is only going to teach at its pace in the predetermined way in which it was
programmed putting the student further behind while the others move on to the next thing. Even
though the teachers move at the pace of the whole class, they can offer individual help for those
who are behind and re-teach the subject so that it is better understood. Group learning can benefit
both the students and the teacher. It allows the student to learn with their peers and allows them
to help each other and work together. Decades of research by educational psychologist has
shown that when students work in collaborative teams in classrooms, they learn material better
than when they sit alone at desks.( Schoenherr 6/17/06) This quote was from research that was
done about students and group learning. It has been proven that group learning is effective in
classrooms. And changing something that has already be proven would be a mistake, especially
if it involves the education of our children.
Students enjoy the actual human teacher more than a computer one. Research was done
and most of the participants said they liked an actual person teaching them. Using a computer
can better enhance the student's education, but we can not have a computer replace a teacher.

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Communication is very important between children and adults. Having a child learn from a
computer can affect the childs ability to be social. Computers should not be teaching our future,
instead they should be used as another tool that students can use. Just another resource for
students to use when they need extra help or when they need to do homework.
There are students who learn better when it is in a class and then there are others that
need some form of one-on-one and a teacher can offer that to a student. A computer is not going
to adjust itself to the way a student learns. Computers can damage the learning process of the
child when it does not adjust to the student. Teachers can adjust themselves to the pace of the
student. A teacher helps the student and the student helps the teacher. It is a win-win situation.
Students also help teachers learn, learn new activities, new lessons, or new ways of teaching. A
computer should just be left as a tool; we should not make it responsible for the education of our
students.
Research proves that teachers are better than computers. Actual people teaching have far
of an effect on students than a computer. People have more to offer than a computer does. And a
computer can be dangerous to the student. Looking at a screen for hours is not good for the
vision of a child. A regular school day is about seven hours, if we replace computers with
teachers how much time will the children be able to use the computer everyday before it starts to
do some damage on their eyes? The more time a student spends on computer can also affect the
way a student socializes. Socializing is very important to anyone's future and it is an essential
skill that every student should know. Why would we change the one thing is proven to better the
future of our students? We should not change teachers. We should continue to let them be
because they hold the key to our future.

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Works Cited
Arnett, Thomas. "Will Computers Replace Teachers?" Clayton Christensen Institute. N.p., 26
Aug. 2013. Web. 13 May 2016.
Maria. "Bridging the Engagement Gap with Hands-on Teaching."Resource Area For Teaching
(2013): n. pag. Feb. 2013. Web. 6 May 2016.
"CASE for Hands-on Learning." Project Discovery. Education Associates, Feb. 2013. Web. 6
May 2016.
Catapano, Jordan. "Contribute to Your School with More than Teaching."TeachHUB. Contribute
to Your School More than Teaching, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
Cygman, Leon. "NEW." Eurodl RSS. Mount Royal University, n.d. Web. 20 May 2016.
Kopp, Wendy. "Computers Can't Replace Teachers." CNN. Cable News Network, 8 Apr. 2013.
Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
Schoenherr, Niel. "Discovering Why Study Groups Are More Effective." The Source.
Washington University, 17 July 2006. Web. 17 May 2016.