Desktop technology in schools can distract pupils from learning and be used by lazy students to hide that they are not working, according to research.
Some children were able to gossip with friends and leave interactive tasks to others in their group without the teacher being able to check on how much work they had done, the study found.
Other pupils played games with the technology when the teacher was not looking, making it more difficult for an inexperienced teacher to control the task, academics found.
The study, by researchers at the University of Newcastle, introduced seven interactive tables to lessons in a school over a six-week period to test their impact in classroom conditions.
It was the first academic study to test the use