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Handsprings for Kids?
matt conway asks: "I'm working in an alternative school for 'at-risk' kids: Inner-city, economically disadvantaged, K-8, in a midwestern rust-belt city. Seems Handspring has a program to provide their hardware for these kids. I'm looking for suggestions on how to use their products to give these kids a leg up in life. Obvious uses are collaborative class projects beamed back and forth, GPS to map out neighborhoods and incidental environmental data, digital photography and writing to produce a school paper. I'm not a CS major, so I wondered if ./ readers had more suggestions for turning hardware into better brains." If Handsprings aren't ideal for this sort of thing, what handhelds might be a decent replacement?
Hmmm... I think some accessories would be wise, no?
Ph33r m3!!!
dopewars
its addictive
I want 2D games back.
What was with the "if Handsprings aren't ideal..." comment. Obviously the Handsprings are going to be used because the school doesn't have to buy them. You don't have to throw in your own comment every time someone asks a question. Especially if it makes no sense.
Now, for the question: I think the most important use of the Handsprings will be their intended purpose. These aren't all-purpose computers, there really is a limit to how much you can do. They are excellent for setting up appointments, keeping track of tasks, jotting down small notes, and useful little utilities like the calculator. I've only found a few useful apps other than the ones included. Most of those are games, which probably will have the effect of kids not paying attention in class; but drawing and mapping programs can be pretty useful.
I think there isn't much you can do with a Handspring that will directly correlate to increased intelligence, but you can get them used to keeping their lives organized and laying out plans for the future. That alone could help immensely for kids who'll have to fight to get anywhere in life.
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