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No-Tech Schools In Tech Land
manyoso writes: "This article in the Oregonian tells how some hi-tech parents at Intel are opting for a school without computers for their children. From the article: 'Conventional wisdom holds that children can only benefit from exposure to technology', but children, 'shouldn't spend first-grade skipping coloring and learning to keyboard... Emphasizing computers doesn't seem to enhance students' creativity and could even stifle it... We want them to eventually see what a computer can do for them, but only after they know what they can do for themselves.'" Clifford Stoll has argued and written along similar lines.
Learn the basics first. The computer should suplement, not replace.
Fight Spammers!
Ummm in first grade you are learning how to write English and do very basic addition/subtraction. I don't think coding is a good outlet for a first graders creativity honestly. The even worse part of the new trend of having a computer for every student at school is that administrators and politicians believe this is actually a good substitution for good teachers. Computers are great when you are older, but I don't think you really NEED them for a good education especially in elementary school.
I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class. Especially since I rule. -Randal, Clerks
a game by the creators of Myst that let you explore worlds)!
There's a real world out there that's more fantastic than any imaginary world that some computer nerd dreamed up. Children need to be socialized - yes, sitting in front of a computer stifles creativity.
I think you are misunderstanding the issue here. I also have been using computers since an early age.
There is a difference between what you and I did and what the kids in elementary school do now.
You and I hacked video games, learned 6502/6510 on our own, and learned how the computer worked intimately.
In the typical school setting nowadays, none of this happens. The schools usually present the computers as a fixed system in a class running a specific program. Not as an interesting tool to examine, understand, or learn to build or hack.
The difference is that you and I were pulled by the computers to learn them. I believe that kids being 'pushed' to learn specific apps would get nothing out of them. Imagine if in 1983 all the schools had computers - Probably all they would have done with them is teach the students the control codes for WordStar. Hardly useful later on in life. Any student who learned how to run the CP/M assembler to create command files would be told 'Stop that! It is not on the final exam!'
It really comes down to how the computers are presented to the students.
As an aside, one of my very good friends is an accomplished musician with a geophysics degree.
--Jeff
ipv6 is my vpn
I did a creative writing workshop with fourth graders who all had laptops. It was great that I could read their writing, but overall, I think the effects were negative.
Spell check was really intrusive. Kids want to spell right and they'd waste tons of time on spelling.
Also, the delete key enabled them to destroy work beyond the possibility of recovery. In groups without computers, a crossed out page or ripped up notebook can still be transcribed. By the time I could reenforce that what they'd written was great... it was already gone.
From about year 1 to year 7 (I'm 24 now) I went to a waldorf school (they are known as steiner schools here in Australia), and never really used a computer till around year 10 when I had to do some cad for my design and tech class, from memory we didn't have a computer at home until I was in year 11 (my parents are still hopeless with computers so definately weren't techies).
Going to a steiner school certainly didn't hold me back as a programmer (current job though I want to get back outdoors a bit more), it also probably made me more inquisitive about constructing things and pulling things to bits to figure out how they worked, both real things and computer things.
I really enjoyed going to a steiner school, we learnt a hell of a lot about the bush, art (not as in art history, more about doing stuff ourselves) and sports, mostly as enjoyment rather than competition (eg going bushwalking, swimming in the river etc.), though we did of course play soccer at lunch, the lack of competitive sports as part of the curiculum hasn't held me back at all when it comes to sports (I compete in sailing on an international level).
because of the totally different method of learning I had a bit of a shock going into a public school halfway through year 7 and coming across algebra and strict timetables etc.
something which I'm not sure if it's because of the school I went to or what, though I very rarely play games on the computer, never really have, always use it for making things or learning rather than as a form of entertainment.
A lot of the more advanced Texas Instruments calculators (I can't tell you which ones, and I'm sure other brands do as well) can do derivatives and integrals of most functions, just like you have shown. My Ti-86 can do integrals, but it will only give you a decimal approximation, not an exact answer. I'm not even sure how to use it for that purpose anyway.
What?
Helpful directional hint: look at the TI-92 [Plus], and the TI-89.
For those people who are interested in actually thinking about why and how computers might be used in early childhood education, a useful link may be the companion site to Seymour Papert's new book (The Connected Family: Bridging the Digital Generation Gap) at http://www.ConnectedFamily.com/ .
Incidentally, for those who (like the remarkably incurious reporter writing the original article) might be inclined to assume that the school's refusal to use computers arises from careful and thoughtful consideration, it might be worthwhile checking out the PLANS site at http://www.waldorfcritics.org/index.html. While this site is (to say the least!) biased, all the necessary links and references are available there for people to make up their own minds about the worth of the Waldorf approach to teaching.