Your mindset is very important here, so by all means get the book Overcoming Math Anxiety by Sheila Tobias. She too had difficulty with math and dropped it, and later on, picked it up again, just as you wish to do now. She runs a university math clinic for people who have had problems similar to your's, and her insights might be very useful. (There also might be such a clinic at your local university).
The question has two parts: What can students read to increase their interest in science and math, and how do you get students to write reflectively about math and science. The first part is the most difficult to answer, as much of the better material is at a level somewhat above the typical elementary school student. However, one approach is through science fiction.
One advantage of (good) science fiction is that the author is creating an entirely new world, and therefore the author has to explain things in detail. One of the reasons younger students have problems reading more adult fiction is that the authors can assume a greater knowledge of the world without explanation, and this causes problems for younger students. Two good places to start with reading materials is Madelaine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time", or Issac Asimov's Robot novels. Winkle in Time introduces the concept of trans-dimensional travel and a number of other concepts such as two-dimensional universes, etc. These could be used as a starting point for a discussion. Likewise, the robot novels introduce a lot of robotics concepts, and robotics is a hot area right now. A good librarian could help find more examples.
Regarding the second question, there are a number of ways to stimulate discussion, and need not be restricted to books. I work with a research group called IKIT at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE/UT), and we are involved with just that. One approach is to find a real-world problem (there are lots, from large to small, example below), that can be used as a starting point. the key is to have the students actually try to solve the problem, no matter how large or small. We use an online discourse space as the forum for discussion, as this allows the students to put forward their ideas and re-visit them for later reflection. They can build onto the ideas of others in a constant flow of inquiry.
A practical example of this can be shown in the work of two teachers from a school in Toronto with a Gr. 3/4 class. Working together, the classroom teacher and the phys. ed. teacher set the students a problem: How can you improve your performance in the long jump? The students practiced and the teachers videotaped their long jumps. Each video segment was then imported into software that took video clips and allowed the students to analze things like the angle of take-off and landing, initial velocity, etc. After the analysis, the students used the discourse space to propose different ways of improving their performance (this is the writing part). They then went back into the field and tried out their solutions, again videotaping them and re-analyzing them to see if their performance had actually improved. They continued with this as long as they could.
During this process, they learned about:
Phy. Ed.: the long jump (track and field.)
Math: angles, height, etc.
Physics: velocity, trajectory, etc.
English: The students have to both read other students' notes and write their own notes. This improves both reading and writing, as well as math and science.
If you need further information on this, I can be contacted at donphi@gmail.com
The first thing you should do is to read Jonassen's excellent book, Computers in the Classroom: Mind tools for critical thinking. He details what effective use of technology in the classroom should look like, and gives suggestions as to hardware and software. WHile, with a single laptop, you can do more effective presentations and search the web for demonstrations, etc., perhaps the best thing you could do is to model effective computer use for your students.
Another factor here is the computer facilities available to your students. What are they? How can they be used, etc.? Jonassen suggests the following criteria for judging whether a piece of software is going to be really effective:
Knowledge representation. The program should be able to be used to represent knowledge in some way;
Generalizable. The program should be usable in different content or subject areas;
Critical thinking. These applications should engage students in critical thinking;
Transferable learning. The skills learned using Mindtools should transfer to thinking in various different fields;
Simple, powerful formalism. Mindtools should support simple but deep and powerful ways of thinking; and
Easily learnable. The mental benefit deriving from the use of the program should not be greater than the effort required to learn it.
On a very practical note for physics, various companies (Vernier Software and Technology (www.vernier.com) for example-I've used these in my chemistry and biology classes) offer a range of probes that can be used to effectively measure data of various kinds. These can provide a great resource for students to design their own experiments, and a single probe/computer set-up can do an entire class if used properly.
Reference:
Jonassen, D., Computers in the Classroom. Mind tools for critical thinking. 1996, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
There are a couple of points here. First, using Second Life (SL) as an environment for learning brings it under the general heading of online learning about which there is a rich literature already and which deserves some attention on your part. A readable introduction to this topic is Palloff and Pratt's "Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom", or Harasim et al. "Learning Networks : A Field Guide to Teaching and Learning On-Line " for a more scholarly treatment.
Second, there are two basic kinds of online learning: asynchronous environments and synchronous environments. SL would fall into the latter category, so that is where you should focus your attention.
Third, there is a literature on using MOOs and MUDs (the predecessors of SL and other virtual worlds) for educational purposes. This is also a good place to look for what works and what doesn't. Lynn Davie and Jason Nolan are two researchers who have written about this. As well, Edward Castronova's book, "Synthetic Worlds" also deserves a look for a general introduction to a variety of aspects of the current crop of virtual worlds.
Fourth, whoever is using SL or any other online learning environment should be made aware that online learning of any type proceeds differently than face-to-face classes. One of the biggest mistakes that an instructor can make to to try to port their f2f class directly and without change into an online environment. There is a learning curve, and there is information on what works and what doesn't (see above.) They need to look at it.
1. Check with your insurance company about their policy regarding unoccupied houses. Many have a policy that they will cancel the insurance unless there is someone looking after it.
2. Get someone to check the house regularly. You may have to pay. I believe that some real estate agents will provide this service. When I had to do this, I arranged for the person checking the house to initial a calendar each time they visited so that there would be a record of visits in case I needed to make an insurance claim.
3. Drain the pipes. There is usually a way to completely drain the pipes in a house. By draining the pipes and shutting off the water, you will minimize any chance of the pipes freezing.
4. Don't, repeat don't, shut off the heat if you have a concrete basement. The cold temperatures can cause major cracks in the walls.
What you're doing is a form of network analysis, and there are programs that will assist with this, but there is also a learning curve. First, while there are other network analysis programs, I am familiar with social network analysis tools, so I will recommend two here. There are probably other slashdotters who can recommend other programs. I've als given a reference to a book that will get you going, but any math text on graph theory will do just as well.
Programs:
NetMiner This is available from Cyram software (Korea). It costs, but is well worth it.
Reference:
Degenne, A., & Forsé, M. (1999). Introducing Social Networks (A. Borges, Trans.). London: SAGE Publications. This is about social networks, but the basic method of analysis is similar for all networks.
You will probably need most of the money to live, even if you live frugally, so any strategy you choose should allow you quick access to your money in the case of emergency.
The stock market is probably a bad idea short term, and since you need to pay off your student debt ASAP when you finish (interest rates won't always be this low,) the volatility of the stock market makes it a poor choice at this time. I'd choose the highest rate bank account I could find.
You haven't said what your living arrangements are. If you are living in residence, then you probably have a meal plan. Stick to it, and don't buy too much expensive food otherwise. Otherwise, invest in "The Joy of Cooking". Buying prepared meals is much more expensive than you think, and this book will give you a good start on cooking your own meals. I'm on my second copy, having worn out the first. Also invest in basic kitchen necessities.
There's also Cooking for Engineerson the internet. It goes into the science of making the food.
I work in educational research and we asked what constituted computer literacy at a recent research meeting. There were two answers. One, largely from Wikipedia included:
plugging in and turning the computer on
the ability to communicate with others using computers through electronic mail (email) or instant messaging services
managing and editing pictures (from cell phones, digital cameras or even scans)
Opening files and recognizing different file types
Multimedia literacy, including, but not limited to:
making movies
making sound files
interactivity
creating web pages
A higher order of computer literacy involves a user being able to adapt and learn new procedures through various means while using a computer.
A colleague grouped this differently and gave the following:
Technical literacy: basic skills to operate computer, hardware equipment and peripheral accessories.
Software literacy: basic skill to use OS and other common/popular software packages, such as MS/Mac OS, MS Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Firewall, antiVirus, etc.
Multimedia literacy: know how to play music, movie, video, and draw pictures, make music, animation, etc.
Communication literacy: know how to commuicate with other people through MSN, outlook, chatrooms, Skype, Wireless equipment, etc.
Information (Internet) Literacy: know how get useful info (learning materials, News, photos, etc) for certain purposes.
I have worked in both unionized positions and non-union positions, so I have some perspective on both. My main take on this, however, is to note that trade unions are an industrial age strategy that is unlikely to work in knowledge age corporations-the one's for which most IT professionals will be working. Remember that it was the trade unions that most strongly opposed the automation of the automobile industry, with the consequent loss of jobs to Japan, which had embraced it.
Perhaps the best strategy is to make sure that you are not over-specialized in any one field so that you have more flexibility when you have to search for a job. Lifelong learning may well be key to all of this.
When I was a high school student and an undergrad and had an essay to write, I would make it a practice (after the research and before I started to write) to read an essay by either George Bernard Shaw or Mark Twain. Both of them write extremely well and with crystal clarity, economy of words, and are very convincing. Then, with that ringing in my ears, I would start to write and found that it flowed more smoothly and came out better. Good editions of Shaw's plays contain the introductory essays through which he conveys why he chose to write the play, and there are collections of Mark Twain's essays available. Of course, others may suggest other authors, but these are the ones I used.
As to punctuation, Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss is both clear and very entertaining, something I would have thought impossible until I read it.
Yagu wrote, I personally think certification is bullhockey, but I don't necessarily hold that someone has a certification against them. Doing so (subtracting value for certification) would be akin to disrespecting someone for having a college degree, and that doesn't make sense.
I would agree with this, but add something: In today's world, if you aren't qualified on paper, you aren't qualified. When it comes to promotions, etc., it's really hard to justify promoting someone with no official qualifications over someone who has them. While certification does not equal competence, when you have to justify a hiring decision, certification will win most of the time.
Your concerns about career prospects could equally be applied to almost any other field. I happen to have Daniel Pink's book A Whole New Mind open in front of me, and he has two things to say that are relevant to you:
First, concern about offshoring is probably overestimated in the short term, but underestimated in the long term. In other words, over the long term concern about this is justified;
He gives (p. 51) three questions:
Can someone overseas do [your job] cheaper?
Can a computer do it faster?
Is what I'm doing in demand...
If the answers to #1 & #2 are yes, and to #3 no, then you are in trouble over the long haul. Friedman in The World is Flat has a similar list.
What you have to do is to make sure that you are in demand and that means to continually upgrade your skills. I notice that some postings have suggested upgrading writing skills; others, languages. In fact anything like that is valuable. Take a look at your degree, and realize that your graduation date really reads "best before".
The other big buzzword these days is innovation. While some people are innately more innovative than others, innovation is a skill that can be learned. There are books (Pink's among them) that can point you in the right direction.
I can't comment much on Linux per se. I would suspect that you are correct that the students will adapt more quickly than the teachers. However, I can comment on educational software.
Much of the educational software duplicates what can be cone more cheaply with pencils and paper. Examples include math drill software, etc. So you don't really need to worry about that sort of thing. However, there is other software you should look into. The best place to start is Jonassen's book Computers in the Classroom. Mind Tools for Critical thinking. Then when you've decided what you really need, you can look into what is available as a Linux distribution.
Reference:
Jonassen, D. (1996). Computers in the Classroom. Mind Tools for Critical Thinking. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
In an earlier post, John Hasler wrote, "If you mean "computers" say so. "Technology" is not a synonym for "computers". Hint: cooking is technology."
This is a very insightful comment, because your question goes quite a lot deeper than most people realize. Essentially, the term "technology" is usually taken to mean computers these days, but shouldn't be. We have all kinds of technologies, and no human over the age of about a year functions daily without them. The psychologist Vygotsky divided our technologies into two classes: tools (for external physical tools,) and signs (for psychological tools such as language) see (Wertsch, 1991 for a fuller discussion of this area.) I would presume that you are teaching your toddler language and social skills, so your question devolves onto physical tools.
As regards physical tools, many psychologists working in this area hold to the "distributed cognition" view. In this view, our intelligence does not reside merely in our heads, but is distributed over the available tools. Another term for this is "material intelligence". diSessa (2000) notes, "Material intelligence... is an addition to 'purely mental' intelligence. We can achieve it in the presence of appropriate materials, such as pen and paper, print, or computers. This image is natural if we think of the mind as a remarkable and complex machine, but one that can be enhanced by allowing appropriate external extensions to the mechanism, extensions that wind up improving our abilities to represent the world, to remember and reason about it.... it is an intelligence achieved cooperatively with external materials." (p. 5)
Therefore, the short answer to your question is yes, you should expose your child to technology, but do be careful to choose those that extend his/her cognition. Pick useful tools rather than junk.
References:
diSessa, A. (2000).Changing minds. Computers, learning, and literacy. Cambridge, MA.: The MIT Press.
Wertsch, J. (1991). Voices of the mind: A sociocultural approach to mediated action. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard Univeristy Press.
Scott wrote, I disagree with the idea that computer assisted education has not lived up to the hype. I have a four year old and a two year old and I set them up with my old Compaq desktop still running Win98, and have found a number of games/educational software that they have learned a lot from. I would recommend Living Books titles to anyone with small children. It is amazing how quickly my kids have picked up using the mouse to control the software, and I have noticed that they use words from the stories in their daily conversations.
I can't really disagree with this. My youngest son taught himself to read using a software program. However, for whatever reason, these don't seem to have caught on, and aren't being used effectively in schools. As well, some thought that such programs would be able to replace the teachers (a cost saving,) and were pursued for that reason. This is the part that has not lived up to the hype, although one would be a fool to disreagrd the possibility of a breakthrough in this regard.
Nonetheless, I stand by what I said. It is the sociocognitive aspect of computer use in schools that shows the most promise at present.
cvd6262 (180823) wrote, That's exactly why Higher Ed, the schools training the teachers has to step it up. I've taught sections of teacher ed classes before (based of ISTE's NETS-T standards), and it's amazing that kids today can reach college with no - and I mean no - technology skills.
We have found that the level of computer proficiency among pre-service teachers (student teachers) is quite low, and that they are not particularly receptive to computer-based teaching strategies. This is reinforced by the rather primitive condition of many school classrooms, especially science classrooms. Some of these are downright primitive!
Well, there are a number actually Jonassen (1996) gives the most thorough survey, but, of course, having been written in 1996 means that it is a little out of date. Here's short list:
Inspiration (www.inspiration.com): This is a concept mapping tool.
LOGO (a programming language for children-http://www.microworlds.com/): This is designed by Seymour Papert Mindstorms) and intended to teach children mathematics and logical processes.
Knowledge Forum (www.ikit.org): This is an online learning environment with metacognitive supports to make children realize the thought processes they are using when they learn and build new knowledge> [Disclaimer: I work on this project.]
Simulations of various kinds. I have used SimEarth successfully with Gr. 6 classes and senior high school classes to teach ecological principles. There are a number of applications for commercial computer simulations and other commercial programs. See http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TECH/04/15/spark.teach ing/ for a very recent article about using computer games in classrooms.
References Jonassen, D. (1996). Computers in the classroom. Mind tools for critical thinking. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
This certainly isn't the first time that computer technology use in schools has been studied, so I'm a bit at a loss to see what the fuss is about. Certainly my research group (see www.ikit.org) has been researching just this for 25 years.
In general, there are two types of software for education: computer assisted instruction (CAI) which has been found to not have lived up to the hype (yet); and what Jonassen calls thinking tools, software designed to augment human cognitive abilities. The latter have been working very well in the classroom, and students using such systems have shown good results. However, teachers can't just be thrown the system and told to go to work-they need to be trained as to how to use them, something that school boards have been reluctant to do as it costs money.
Basically, there are two approaches that would be useful. One is to simply ask the students. However students may not know the full spectrum of possibilities, so that approach might not produce the desired results.
A second (better) approach is to identify a set of real-world science problems, present those to the students, and find out which ones might interest them. Then try to provide the resources to assist them in understanding the problem(s) and to work with their ideas towards possible solutions. But remember: no make-believe problems. These have to be real problems of some significance.
Slashdot Mirror
Your mindset is very important here, so by all means get the book Overcoming Math Anxiety by Sheila Tobias. She too had difficulty with math and dropped it, and later on, picked it up again, just as you wish to do now. She runs a university math clinic for people who have had problems similar to your's, and her insights might be very useful. (There also might be such a clinic at your local university).
One advantage of (good) science fiction is that the author is creating an entirely new world, and therefore the author has to explain things in detail. One of the reasons younger students have problems reading more adult fiction is that the authors can assume a greater knowledge of the world without explanation, and this causes problems for younger students. Two good places to start with reading materials is Madelaine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time", or Issac Asimov's Robot novels. Winkle in Time introduces the concept of trans-dimensional travel and a number of other concepts such as two-dimensional universes, etc. These could be used as a starting point for a discussion. Likewise, the robot novels introduce a lot of robotics concepts, and robotics is a hot area right now. A good librarian could help find more examples.
Regarding the second question, there are a number of ways to stimulate discussion, and need not be restricted to books. I work with a research group called IKIT at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE/UT), and we are involved with just that. One approach is to find a real-world problem (there are lots, from large to small, example below), that can be used as a starting point. the key is to have the students actually try to solve the problem, no matter how large or small. We use an online discourse space as the forum for discussion, as this allows the students to put forward their ideas and re-visit them for later reflection. They can build onto the ideas of others in a constant flow of inquiry.
A practical example of this can be shown in the work of two teachers from a school in Toronto with a Gr. 3/4 class. Working together, the classroom teacher and the phys. ed. teacher set the students a problem: How can you improve your performance in the long jump? The students practiced and the teachers videotaped their long jumps. Each video segment was then imported into software that took video clips and allowed the students to analze things like the angle of take-off and landing, initial velocity, etc. After the analysis, the students used the discourse space to propose different ways of improving their performance (this is the writing part). They then went back into the field and tried out their solutions, again videotaping them and re-analyzing them to see if their performance had actually improved. They continued with this as long as they could.
During this process, they learned about:
If you need further information on this, I can be contacted at donphi@gmail.com
- Knowledge representation. The program should be able to be used to represent knowledge in some way;
- Generalizable. The program should be usable in different content or subject areas;
- Critical thinking. These applications should engage students in critical thinking;
- Transferable learning. The skills learned using Mindtools should transfer to thinking in various different fields;
- Simple, powerful formalism. Mindtools should support simple but deep and powerful ways of thinking; and
- Easily learnable. The mental benefit deriving from the use of the program should not be greater than the effort required to learn it.
On a very practical note for physics, various companies (Vernier Software and Technology (www.vernier.com) for example-I've used these in my chemistry and biology classes) offer a range of probes that can be used to effectively measure data of various kinds. These can provide a great resource for students to design their own experiments, and a single probe/computer set-up can do an entire class if used properly.Reference: Jonassen, D., Computers in the Classroom. Mind tools for critical thinking. 1996, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
There are a couple of points here. First, using Second Life (SL) as an environment for learning brings it under the general heading of online learning about which there is a rich literature already and which deserves some attention on your part. A readable introduction to this topic is Palloff and Pratt's "Lessons from the Cyberspace Classroom", or Harasim et al. "Learning Networks : A Field Guide to Teaching and Learning On-Line " for a more scholarly treatment.
Second, there are two basic kinds of online learning: asynchronous environments and synchronous environments. SL would fall into the latter category, so that is where you should focus your attention.
Third, there is a literature on using MOOs and MUDs (the predecessors of SL and other virtual worlds) for educational purposes. This is also a good place to look for what works and what doesn't. Lynn Davie and Jason Nolan are two researchers who have written about this. As well, Edward Castronova's book, "Synthetic Worlds" also deserves a look for a general introduction to a variety of aspects of the current crop of virtual worlds.
Fourth, whoever is using SL or any other online learning environment should be made aware that online learning of any type proceeds differently than face-to-face classes. One of the biggest mistakes that an instructor can make to to try to port their f2f class directly and without change into an online environment. There is a learning curve, and there is information on what works and what doesn't (see above.) They need to look at it.
1. Check with your insurance company about their policy regarding unoccupied houses. Many have a policy that they will cancel the insurance unless there is someone looking after it.
2. Get someone to check the house regularly. You may have to pay. I believe that some real estate agents will provide this service. When I had to do this, I arranged for the person checking the house to initial a calendar each time they visited so that there would be a record of visits in case I needed to make an insurance claim.
3. Drain the pipes. There is usually a way to completely drain the pipes in a house. By draining the pipes and shutting off the water, you will minimize any chance of the pipes freezing.
4. Don't, repeat don't, shut off the heat if you have a concrete basement. The cold temperatures can cause major cracks in the walls.
Homer-Dixon, T. (2001). The Ingenuity Gap. Can we solve the problems of the future? : Vantage Canada.
Programs:
Agna (Benta, I. (2002, 2003). Agna Project. Retrieved April 16, 2004, from http://www.geocities.com/imbenta/agna/index.htm). This is a free product and is excellent.
NetMiner This is available from Cyram software (Korea). It costs, but is well worth it.
Reference:
Degenne, A., & Forsé, M. (1999). Introducing Social Networks (A. Borges, Trans.). London: SAGE Publications. This is about social networks, but the basic method of analysis is similar for all networks.
A colleague grouped this differently and gave the following:
I have worked in both unionized positions and non-union positions, so I have some perspective on both. My main take on this, however, is to note that trade unions are an industrial age strategy that is unlikely to work in knowledge age corporations-the one's for which most IT professionals will be working. Remember that it was the trade unions that most strongly opposed the automation of the automobile industry, with the consequent loss of jobs to Japan, which had embraced it.
Perhaps the best strategy is to make sure that you are not over-specialized in any one field so that you have more flexibility when you have to search for a job. Lifelong learning may well be key to all of this.
When I was a high school student and an undergrad and had an essay to write, I would make it a practice (after the research and before I started to write) to read an essay by either George Bernard Shaw or Mark Twain. Both of them write extremely well and with crystal clarity, economy of words, and are very convincing. Then, with that ringing in my ears, I would start to write and found that it flowed more smoothly and came out better. Good editions of Shaw's plays contain the introductory essays through which he conveys why he chose to write the play, and there are collections of Mark Twain's essays available. Of course, others may suggest other authors, but these are the ones I used.
As to punctuation, Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss is both clear and very entertaining, something I would have thought impossible until I read it.
Yagu wrote, I personally think certification is bullhockey, but I don't necessarily hold that someone has a certification against them. Doing so (subtracting value for certification) would be akin to disrespecting someone for having a college degree, and that doesn't make sense.
I would agree with this, but add something: In today's world, if you aren't qualified on paper, you aren't qualified. When it comes to promotions, etc., it's really hard to justify promoting someone with no official qualifications over someone who has them. While certification does not equal competence, when you have to justify a hiring decision, certification will win most of the time.
- First, concern about offshoring is probably overestimated in the short term, but underestimated in the long term. In other words, over the long term concern about this is justified;
- He gives (p. 51) three questions:
What you have to do is to make sure that you are in demand and that means to continually upgrade your skills. I notice that some postings have suggested upgrading writing skills; others, languages. In fact anything like that is valuable. Take a look at your degree, and realize that your graduation date really reads "best before". The other big buzzword these days is innovation. While some people are innately more innovative than others, innovation is a skill that can be learned. There are books (Pink's among them) that can point you in the right direction.- Can someone overseas do [your job] cheaper?
- Can a computer do it faster?
- Is what I'm doing in demand
...
If the answers to #1 & #2 are yes, and to #3 no, then you are in trouble over the long haul. Friedman in The World is Flat has a similar list.I can't comment much on Linux per se. I would suspect that you are correct that the students will adapt more quickly than the teachers. However, I can comment on educational software.
Much of the educational software duplicates what can be cone more cheaply with pencils and paper. Examples include math drill software, etc. So you don't really need to worry about that sort of thing. However, there is other software you should look into. The best place to start is Jonassen's book Computers in the Classroom. Mind Tools for Critical thinking. Then when you've decided what you really need, you can look into what is available as a Linux distribution.
Reference: Jonassen, D. (1996). Computers in the Classroom. Mind Tools for Critical Thinking. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
In an earlier post, John Hasler wrote, "If you mean "computers" say so. "Technology" is not a synonym for "computers". Hint: cooking is technology."
... is an addition to 'purely mental' intelligence. We can achieve it in the presence of appropriate materials, such as pen and paper, print, or computers. This image is natural if we think of the mind as a remarkable and complex machine, but one that can be enhanced by allowing appropriate external extensions to the mechanism, extensions that wind up improving our abilities to represent the world, to remember and reason about it. ... it is an intelligence achieved cooperatively with external materials." (p. 5)
This is a very insightful comment, because your question goes quite a lot deeper than most people realize. Essentially, the term "technology" is usually taken to mean computers these days, but shouldn't be. We have all kinds of technologies, and no human over the age of about a year functions daily without them. The psychologist Vygotsky divided our technologies into two classes: tools (for external physical tools,) and signs (for psychological tools such as language) see (Wertsch, 1991 for a fuller discussion of this area.) I would presume that you are teaching your toddler language and social skills, so your question devolves onto physical tools.
As regards physical tools, many psychologists working in this area hold to the "distributed cognition" view. In this view, our intelligence does not reside merely in our heads, but is distributed over the available tools. Another term for this is "material intelligence". diSessa (2000) notes, "Material intelligence
Therefore, the short answer to your question is yes, you should expose your child to technology, but do be careful to choose those that extend his/her cognition. Pick useful tools rather than junk.
References: diSessa, A. (2000).Changing minds. Computers, learning, and literacy. Cambridge, MA.: The MIT Press.
Wertsch, J. (1991). Voices of the mind: A sociocultural approach to mediated action. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard Univeristy Press.
I can't really disagree with this. My youngest son taught himself to read using a software program. However, for whatever reason, these don't seem to have caught on, and aren't being used effectively in schools. As well, some thought that such programs would be able to replace the teachers (a cost saving,) and were pursued for that reason. This is the part that has not lived up to the hype, although one would be a fool to disreagrd the possibility of a breakthrough in this regard.
Nonetheless, I stand by what I said. It is the sociocognitive aspect of computer use in schools that shows the most promise at present.
We have found that the level of computer proficiency among pre-service teachers (student teachers) is quite low, and that they are not particularly receptive to computer-based teaching strategies. This is reinforced by the rather primitive condition of many school classrooms, especially science classrooms. Some of these are downright primitive!
References
Jonassen, D. (1996). Computers in the classroom. Mind tools for critical thinking. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
This certainly isn't the first time that computer technology use in schools has been studied, so I'm a bit at a loss to see what the fuss is about. Certainly my research group (see www.ikit.org) has been researching just this for 25 years. In general, there are two types of software for education: computer assisted instruction (CAI) which has been found to not have lived up to the hype (yet); and what Jonassen calls thinking tools, software designed to augment human cognitive abilities. The latter have been working very well in the classroom, and students using such systems have shown good results. However, teachers can't just be thrown the system and told to go to work-they need to be trained as to how to use them, something that school boards have been reluctant to do as it costs money.
I'm completing a Ph.D. at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education ( U. of Toronto) and work as a researcher with the Institute for Knowledge Innovation and Technology-a non-profit institute within the university. What you are talking about is rather in our area, so if you'd like to contact me, I'd be glad to help out. (dphilip@oise.utoronto.ca)
Basically, there are two approaches that would be useful. One is to simply ask the students. However students may not know the full spectrum of possibilities, so that approach might not produce the desired results.
A second (better) approach is to identify a set of real-world science problems, present those to the students, and find out which ones might interest them. Then try to provide the resources to assist them in understanding the problem(s) and to work with their ideas towards possible solutions. But remember: no make-believe problems. These have to be real problems of some significance.