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New Hampshire to Follow Maine's Lead
Timex writes "According to an article from the Portland [Maine] Press Herald, some seventh-graders in New Hampshire will be issued laptops in January. 19 school districts have been invited to submit proposals, and up to five of them will be chosen to lead the way in New Hampshire. Cabletron Systems co-founder and NH Governor Craig Benson is getting funding for the four-year project from corporate donations. So far, he's gathered about half of the estimated $1.2 million estimated cost."
Ever use Blackboard? It helps with teaching.
High School/Public School education is a joke in the U.S. Student's don't even know algebra by the time they graduate with A's in math.
Thats because math isnt taught in a way so that people actually learn it. You dont learn math by memorization alone but thats how its taught, its just rote memorization.
Also students dont know math very well because we distract them with a hell of alot of other subjects, like history, PE, and all those elective s which just waste time.
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
I cannot see any reason to spend this much on something that will do so little. (Note: media classes are exempt; laptops are useful in them.)
A laptop might let you take notes quicker, and save for some minor annoyances like key-tapping and maybe computer-noises, that's a pro. But other than that, is there anything laptops can add to a class?
Maybe quizes could be administered quickly. But with that sort of technology it could be easier to cheat. And would quizes really be any better than on paper?
There would be some communication benefits perhaps. Nothing will be any better than someone sticking up their hand, though - and in this case the whole class can hear the question (or ignore it). So silent questions to the teacher while in class is out. It wouldn't be good to allow students to communicate like that, I think, since they could get off topic too quickly. It will be easier to focus without chatting.
A big con is that students could possibly be installing games and crap they shouldn't be using when instead they are supposed to be learning.
Maybe laptops could provide more interactive learning to replace the textbook. But still, I don't see how that could be so much better when doing math problems is easier on paper. If the questions are given on the laptop, it still is no better than a textbook. Students should be listening to the teacher in class though, and doing homework at home (imo - get the most use out of class time).
Monitors are hard on your eyes after a while. I haven't used a laptop for a long amount of time (don't own one), but this could just add more health problems. (well, very minor ones I'm sure - headaches and such at the worst)
Textbooks get better written and updated with new information all the time. I think they ought to be spending any extra money on textbooks, not useless laptops. I know my high-school classes could have used better ones. My new, expensive college textbooks are excellent.
Waste of money...
Laptops are useless. What a waste of money. How about actually teaching the kids.