The effect of smart educational methods on refractive errors and binocular functions among school-aged children

Abstract

Aim: To assess the effect of smart methods for teaching on refractive errors and binocular functions among school-aged children in Khartoum state of Sudan Material and Methods: This is a comparative-cross-sectional study of 450 subjects, 254 males and 196 females were selected from two schools, 220 subjects from schools used smart educational methods for teaching, and 230 subjects from schools used traditional educational methods for teaching, their age ranged from 8 to 13 years with mean age 10.9±1.61. Results: The finding revealed that 88(40.0%) of subjects from smart school had convergence weakness compared to 29(12.6%) subjects from tradition school. 134 (60.9%) of subjects from smart schools had weak fusion compared to 35 (15.2%) of tradition school. 102(46.4%),of subject from smart school had myopia, , compared to 44(21.3%), from traditional school..138 (62.7%) of the children from smart school had decompensated exophoria at near fixation compared to 77(33.5%) from tradition school .There was significant difference when comparing between two schools .Conclusion: Smart educational devices for teaching have effect on development of refractive error and lead to decrease the binocular functions . Thus, any child attends smart schools should assess annually by comprehensive eye examinations. Keywords: Smart devices, smart school, tradition schools, Binocular functions, Refractive error.