What were
your favorite books as a child? Chances are, those same titles would earn bored
yawns from many kids today. According to The Atlantic, some teachers and children’s publishers are experimenting with
digital enhancements to hold the interest of elementary-school readers.
The term
“reader” may not be entirely accurate. The
Atlantic noted that some of these e-books are heavy on multimedia and light
on text; some are actually interactive apps. Yet parents and their children are
responding positively to them, while teachers and librarians report they’re
having a hard time holding their classes’ attention with all-text books, no
matter how popular the titles once were.
If children
get used to multimedia entertainment in their reading books in grade school,
they may expect the same when they get to college. In fact, they may not even
be able to effectively study pages of text without digital enhancements. Two
researchers at West Chester University “found that students tend to spend more
time reading enhanced books, but that they often comprehend less of the
material,” said The Atlantic article.
In some
cases, publishers are putting digital extras into e-books just because they
can—audio of noises in the story, for instance—and not to help young readers
understand the book’s themes or learn new vocabulary. In others, though, the
digital books and apps were intentionally created to be used in conjunction
with print books as a means to extend the reading experience.
