A LIVELY ELECTRONIC COMPENDIUM OF RESEARCH,NEWS,RESOURCES,AND OPINION Astronomy Education review 2012.AER,11,010108-1,10.3847/AER2012011 Digital Devices,Distraction,and Student Performance: Does In-Class Cell Phone Use Reduce Learning? Douglas K.Duncan University of Colorado,Boulder,Colorado,80309 Angel R.Hoekstra University of Colorado,Boulder,Colorado,80309 Bethany R.Wilcox University of Colorado.Boulder.Colorado,80309 Received:04/5/12,Accepted:06/12/12.Published:07/31/12 2012 The American Astronomical Society.All rights reserved Abstract The recent increase in use of digital devices such as laptop computers,iPads,and web-enabled cell phones has generated concern about how technologies affect student performance.Combining observation,survey,and interview data,this research assesses the effects of technology use on student attitudes and learning.Data were gathered in eight introductory science courses at a major university.Results show a significant negative correlation between in-class phone use and final grades,with use of cell phones corresponding to a drop of 0.36+0.08 on a 4-point scale where 4.0=A.These findings are consistent with research (Ophir,Nass,and Wagner 2009,Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,106,15583)suggesting students cannot multitask nearly as effectively as they think they can.While 75%of students reported regular cell phone use, observation suggests undergraduates typically underreport the frequency of their in-class use of digital devices. 1.INTRODUCTION With the advent of affordable digital devices,use of technology by students and instructors is increasing in college classrooms(Hoekstra 2009).The present work was motivated by an unpublished study of one large engineering class,which found that students who took notes on laptops earned a full letter grade lower than those who took notes with pen and paper(D.Sieber,personal communication).In that study,students were told about these results after each of three tests given during the semester,and when the laptop note-takers ceased taking notes by means of the technology,their test scores rose to match those of their peers. While these data are suggestive of the negative effects of digital distractions for learning,this course used traditional lecture instruction,and recent research suggests active learning strategies may produce more effective learning overall(Crossgrove and Curran 2008;Smith et al.2009).Many large science classes are now taught with Peer Instruction(Mazur 1997)and clickers(wireless student response systems),and the result is often much higher student engagement(Hoekstra 2008;Gauci et al.2009;Deslauriers,Schelew,and Wieman,2011)and the potential for greater learning(Smith et al.2009).We undertook the present study to determine if the results from the engineering class would be replicated in a larger sample,particularly when clickers and Peer Instruction are used to stimulate engagement in the learning process. 2.METHODS AND RESULTS Research was conducted over two semesters at a large state university in the western U.S.In the first semester. digital-device use was investigated in three large introductory courses for nonscience majors(N-318;A LIVE LY E LE C T RO NI C COMPE NDI UM O F RESEARCH, NEWS, RESOURCES, AND OPINION Astronomy Education Review 2012, AER, 11, 010108-1, 10.3847/AER2012011 Digital Devices, Distraction, and Student Performance: Does In-Class Cell Phone Use Reduce Learning? Douglas K. Duncan University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309 Angel R. Hoekstra University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309 Bethany R. Wilcox University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309 Received: 04/5/12, Accepted: 06/12/12, Published: 07/31/12 VC 2012 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Abstract The recent increase in use of digital devices such as laptop computers, iPads, and web-enabled cell phones has generated concern about how technologies affect student performance. Combining observation, survey, and interview data, this research assesses the effects of technology use on student attitudes and learning. Data were gathered in eight introductory science courses at a major university. Results show a significant negative correlation between in-class phone use and final grades, with use of cell phones corresponding to a drop of 0.36 6 0.08 on a 4-point scale where 4.0 ¼ A. These findings are consistent with research (Ophir, Nass, and Wagner 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106, 15583) suggesting students cannot multitask nearly as effectively as they think they can. While 75% of students reported regular cell phone use, observation suggests undergraduates typically underreport the frequency of their in-class use of digital devices. 1. INTRODUCTION With the advent of affordable digital devices, use of technology by students and instructors is increasing in college classrooms (Hoekstra 2009). The present work was motivated by an unpublished study of one large engineering class, which found that students who took notes on laptops earned a full letter grade lower than those who took notes with pen and paper (D. Sieber, personal communication). In that study, students were told about these results after each of three tests given during the semester, and when the laptop note-takers ceased taking notes by means of the technology, their test scores rose to match those of their peers. While these data are suggestive of the negative effects of digital distractions for learning, this course used traditional lecture instruction, and recent research suggests active learning strategies may produce more effective learning overall (Crossgrove and Curran 2008; Smith et al. 2009). Many large science classes are now taught with Peer Instruction (Mazur 1997) and clickers (wireless student response systems), and the result is often much higher student engagement (Hoekstra 2008; Gauci et al. 2009; Deslauriers, Schelew, and Wieman, 2011) and the potential for greater learning (Smith et al. 2009). We undertook the present study to determine if the results from the engineering class would be replicated in a larger sample, particularly when clickers and Peer Instruction are used to stimulate engagement in the learning process. 2. METHODS AND RESULTS Research was conducted over two semesters at a large state university in the western U.S. In the first semester, digital-device use was investigated in three large introductory courses for nonscience majors (N ¼ 318;