Although computerized learning is all the rage these days... I'm not surprised one bit by this study:

INTERACTIVE computers used in British schools to teach children to read are harming their learning, research shows.

Specially designed software is increasingly replacing traditional teaching in the classroom as part of the Government's £1.7 million ($4 million) push to integrate computers into all lessons.

Parents have also bought into the enthusiasm for technology, spending millions on educational computer games for their young.

However, research published in the journal Education 3 to 13 has found that pupils who use interactive programs cannot remember stories they have just read because they are distracted by cartoons and sound effects.

Describing some software as "more entertainment than education", the researchers have warned teachers and parents not to abandon simple storytelling and reading books to young children.

Hell... I've seen the effects that laptops can have in classrooms, when the students are in college. Even there its a bad idea. When I was a junior at MSOE, they were just starting a program for freshmen where they were forced to buy laptops as part of tuition. They took those laptops everywhere, and to every class. That freshman class reportedly had the worst class wide GPA in the history of the school. Professors started telling their students not to bring their laptops to class. And those were college students... just imagine the effect on grade school kids. I write software for a living, and even I know that computers can't replace everything. Heck, maybe I'm in a better position than most people to realize exactly what a computer can't do.