Twitter has not caught on among school-age children as quickly or universally as other Web 2.0 tools, such as Facebook or MySpace: Only about 1 percent of the estimated 12 million users in the United States are between the ages of 3 and 17, although young adults are the fastest-growing group of users, according to recent reports.

get students engaged in the content and processes of school.

“It’s getting kids who aren’t necessarily engaged in class engaged in some sort of conversation.”

A recent study, however, renewed concerns about the potential negative impact of the latest technological applications. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that adults who attempted multiple tasks while using a range of media simultaneously had difficulty processing the information or switching between tasks.

Mr. Willingham, who is the author of the new book, Why Don’t Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom.

Somebody’s got to create something worth tweeting