COATESVILLE >> Would you put down your smart phone for free ice cream?
When Scott Middle School Principal Eugenia Roberts noticed that students were spending an increasing amount of their lunch period on their smart phones instead of talking with each other, she devised an experiment to see if she could get them to put down their devices.
She asked one lunch table of seventh grade students if they would be willing to give up their cell phones during a lunch period if she would buy them ice cream? The students agreed, and now the plan is spreading.
“Social interaction – actually speaking to each other in person – is critically important skill and we know it’s important for our students’ social growth,” Roberts said. “Face to face interaction will never be obsolete, and the research shows that so much time spent on smart phones is actually increasing the stress load on our students.”
Roberts’ plan provided ice cream at one lunch period for every seventh grader in the school, so long as the peers at their table were willing to make the trade. Students without smart phones also received it.
Now, sixth and eighth grade students Scott Middle School students of the Coatesville Area School District are asking if they can make the same trade.
“The cost of ice cream is expensive,” said Roberts, who is personally funding the program. “However, I am committed to provide it for the seventh and eighth grades.”
She also hopes to extend the challenge, asking students to give up their phone for longer periods of time. Currently students are only permitted to use their phones during their half hour lunch period.
“It’s great to see our students having traditional conversations,” Roberts said. “I have seen more smiles in the lunch room since we tried this. To me, it’s worth the money to see our students interacting.”