Here’s another study that reflects poorly on mobile devices — cell phones this time — in the classroom. Duncan, Hoekstra, and Wilcox 2012 investigated cell phone use by students in five introductory science courses through in-class observations, student surveys, and semi-structured interviews with students. They found that a there was a significant negative correlation between cell phone use and final grades and b students underestimated how frequently they used their cell phones during class. It’s significant that these five courses weren’t traditional lecture courses. Each course used clicker-facilitated peer instruction exercises to engage student during class. Even in these active learning classrooms, cell phones posed a dangerous distraction to students.

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