Is Early Childhood Education Technology Moving Backwards?

theodp writes "Four decades ago, the NSF-sponsored PLATO Elementary Reading Curriculum Project (pdf) provided Illinois schoolchildren with reading lessons and e-versions of beloved children's books that exploited networked, touch-sensitive 8.5"x8.5" bit-mapped plasma screens, color images, and audio. Last week, the Today Show promoted the TeacherMate — a $100 gadget that's teaching Illinois schoolchildren to read and do math using its 2.5" screen and old-school U-D-L-R cursor keys — as a revolution in education. Has early childhood education managed to defy Moore's Law?"

Comments

Re:Simple Rugged Durable = Better

[PopeRatzo]

I think I got my first "personal" computer about the same time my now-21 year-old daughter was born

Upon further review, I realize that I did in fact get my first Commodore 64 some years before I was married. Apparently, those early machines were not yet powerful enough to suck the will out of me as effectively as the eight-core media powerhouse to which I am currently in thrall.

Thus, I was still able to reproduce before it was too late.