It is also important to consider the full ramifications of computers in 
our society.  Are they all the good they are touted to be?  Do they 
really benefit students or is it possible that computer can make us 
lazy?  How can a computer help with analytical thinking (since computers 
really cannot "think."  Computers can and do play an important part in a 
well-designed classroom program.  Yet I think Alan Kay is correct when 
he says there is misuse in classrooms regarding computer use and that 
computers are becoming "mental junk-food."  
dt
TC>SK>Also from the May 19, 1996 Edupage:
TC> 
TC>SK>-> TECHNOLOGY AS A JUNK FOOD
TC>  >-> In the next issue of Educom Review, technology visionary Alan
TC>  >-> Kay says in an article on "the use and misuse of computers in
TC>  >-> education" that it makes him sad to be shown a classroom full
TC>  >-> of children joyfully using computers: "This is technology as a
TC>  >-> junk food -- people love it but there is no nutrition to speak
TC>  >-> of." 
TC>SK>FWIW, I have had several "discussions" with others in Usenet about
TC>  >whether we should be using computers to teach math in the
TC>  >classroom. There are some (apparently) well educated engineers and
TC>  >computer science professionals who are telling me that we should
TC>  >NOT be using the computers in education, that what is needed is
TC>  >more basic and also more emphasis on analytic skills which do not
TC>  >require technology. 
TC>I personally don't see computers as teachers, more like facilitators.
TC> 
TC>If a student is having trouble with multiplication tables.  A
TC>computer can give the question, accept the answer, grade the answer
TC>and move on with no emotion involved other than what is programed.
TC>The student can learn at their own pace until they can do as well as
TC>others in the class.  Simple division, addition, subtraction would
TC>all be applicable. I would agree that too much reliance on computers
TC>to do ones calculations reduces basic skills.  I experienced this
TC>with the first calculators.  Even today my sons can not calculate
TC>simple math situations as quickly or accurately as I.  But then I
TC>can't do differential equations or dynamics either.  In the early
TC>years IMO the more the student can do manually the better.  Once they
TC>master the basics the computer just becomes a facilitator again.
TC>___
TC> X QMPro 1.53 X All rising to a great place is by a winding stair.
TC>  
TC>--- Maximus 2.02
TC>                                                        
* CMPQwk #1.42* UNREGISTERED EVALUATION COPY
--- GEcho 1.11+
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