Sean Cavanagh reports from Guangzhou, China about Chinese schools.

“The key point,” Mr. Peng Guohui, principal of Jindao Middle School, said, “is you have to use technology in a proper way. Don’t just expect it to be colorful or fun.”

Mr. Peng also concluded that Chinese students are far more skilled in foundational math and science skills than students he observed in Nashville (TN) Public Schools. In one middle school math class, he was surprised to see American students covering computation items that Chinese students would have mastered years earlier.

“It was too simple for grade 7,” he said. Students with skills that low, he added, were not likely to develop the kind of creative-thinking skills Americans are famous for, because “knowledge acquisition is the basis for creativity.”

Mr. Peng believes one effective way he can help students succeed is through the use of educational technology. The Jindao school uses computers in many classes, including physics labs, where computers are built into students’ desks.

Students use these computers for lab simulations; one simulation allowed students to test the flow of electricity on a circuit, under varying conditions. With computers, students manipulate experiments in ways that are more flexible than working with traditional lab equipment.

Mr. Peng felt obligated to defend his school’s use of technology. He had recently read a story from an American newspaper about a federal study showing that the use of technology did not improve student performance in math and reading.

Why, he asked me, would this American study focus only on reading and math? “This is not objective,” he said, shaking his head for emphasis. Technology, he added, “can help students learn more effectively, help teachers teach more effectively.”

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