Sheila,
  I was interested in the following from a message you wrote to Bob Moylan.
> The other reaction I have is: why are computers necessary at every grade > 
level including lower ones?  What type of skills, etc. do you expect to see > 
taught that cannot be done (or done as effectively) without the computers?
> don't get me wrong. I'm pushing for more computers at our school as
> well. I'm just curious as to why you see them necessary at your
> children's school.
  This expresses well some problems I am wrestling with at the present time
in view of a budget crisis our own school system is going through.  I am
convinced that computers can be powerful aids to instruction, but many of
the skills that students need to learn at elementary and secondary levels,
including math skills, can, I expect, be effectively done without requiring 
the students to use computers per se, a use which, at the present time, is 
both terribly expensive and very time-consuming teaching wise.  I suspect,for 
example, that there is a world of difference between the use of a hand-held 
calculator after one has mastered basic math concepts of addition, 
subtraction, multiplication, and division and using computers to solve 
problems in most elementary and secondary math courses.  I would hope that 
good math teachers would, of course, demonstrate how spreadsheets and other 
programs could be used to solve various kinds of math problems, or how math 
concepts can be used to set up spreadsheets as aids in home and business 
procedures.
  I guess part of my concern is that, in my own lifetime, I have seen 
instructional time reduced from hour-long classes to 40-45 minute classes to 
teach more content.  Attempts to deal with this through block scheduling and 
curriculum modifications present problems and lead to outcomes I find 
disturbing.  As an early believer in the promise of computers in education, I 
find that trends toward a concern with keeping up with state-of-the-art 
advances may ignore basic advantages.  Elementary and secondary schools do 
not need Internet access, for example--a costly program.  Programs to teach 
these things rob time from the basic knowledges that young people need.  I 
guess I would compare it to earlier demands that schools teach driver 
education during regular class time.  A large percentage of homes in our 
district have computers, and many subscribe to various online services.  Our 
public libraries have computers through which patrons may access the Internet 
and the WWW.  Just about everything in elementary and secondary curricula can 
be taught without requiring that all students have access in school to their 
own computers or that schools be wired for Internet access.
  I will save more for future messages as I try to sort all this out in my 
own mind and try to articulate for myself the role that computers should or 
could play in the education of young people.  Thanks for listening.
--Art--
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SK> While being able to upgrade the computers themselves isn't something
SK> that I see as necessary (I can't even really do that myself. I rely 
SK> on
SK> my spouse for that type of tinkering), greater familiarity with the
SK> machine is a must.
    Teachers, like all users, need to have some idea what _can_ (and cannot) 
be done with PCs and typical costs.  If the user has no idea what the machine 
can do and at what cost, waste is guaranteed.
--- Simplex BBS (v1.07.00Beta [DOS])
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