Computer Environments For Children

What are computers in education being used for? In this book, Cynthia Solomon takes a welcome look at the possibilities and issues of learning with and about computers in schools or in any other learning environment.Solomon focuses on the use of computers within the framework of recent innovative theories of learning and education, particularly in elementary school mathematics. She devotes an entire chapter each to the work of Patrick Suppes, Robert Davis, Tom Dwyer, and Seymour Papert.Cynthia Solomon received a doctorate in education from Harvard and has worked with Seymour Papert's group at MIT and with the Atari Research Laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In this book, Cynthia Solomon takes a welcome look at the possibilities and issues of learning with and about computers in schools or in any other learning environment.

In this revolutionary book, a renowned computer scientist explains the importance of teaching children the basics of computing and how it can prepare them to succeed in the ever-evolving tech world. Computers have completely changed the way we teach children. We have Mindstorms to thank for that. In this book, pioneering computer scientist Seymour Papert uses the invention of LOGO, the first child-friendly programming language, to make the case for the value of teaching children with computers. Papert argues that children are more than capable of mastering computers, and that teaching computational processes like de-bugging in the classroom can change the way we learn everything else. He also shows that schools saturated with technology can actually improve socialization and interaction among students and between students and teachers. Technology changes every day, but the basic ways that computers can help us learn remain. For thousands of teachers and parents who have sought creative ways to help children learn with computers, Mindstorms is their bible.

This book takes a serious historical and international look at the "digital pencil" movement to equip every student with a computing device with wireless connection. Using an ecological perspective as an overarching framework, and drawing on their own studies and available literature that illuminate the issues related to one-to-one computing, the authors present well-reasoned discussions about a set of complex and critical issue facing policy makers, educators, students, parents, and the general public. The Digital Pencil addresses four key questions: Is the digital pencil a good idea? The authors analyze the costs and benefits of one-to-one computing programs through consideration of multiple indicators and examine the evaluation reports of various projects within their analytical framework to present a comprehensive summary of outcomes of one-to-one computing projects. What happens when each child has a networked computer? The authors analyze existing data with the goal of gaining insights and making suggestions and recommendations for policy makers, teachers, and parents. What should schools purchase or lease - is there an ideal device? These authors examine the relative advantages and disadvantages of different devices and implementation schemes. How do we know if one-to-one computing is making a difference? The authors review the evaluation plans of the various projects and propose a framework for comprehensive evaluation and research on one-to-one computing. This book is intended for researchers, school administrators, educational technology professionals, and policy makers in the U.S. and around the world, and as a supplemental text for advanced courses in education, technology, and technological innovation.

This volume integrates research findings from three multinational studies conducted to examine the impact of children's use of computers in school. Conclusions are drawn from in-depth analyses of trends in more than 20 nations. Its seven authors from four nations were key researchers on these projects. Both a study and a product of the information age, this work is of prime importance to teachers, teacher educators, and school administrators. This work is unique in three important ways: * it presents data gathered in many regions of the world; * many of the authors are well-known and respected for their previous work in educational studies; and * the chapters are designed in such a way that the majority of the book is easily accessible to professionals such as classroom teachers who are interested primarily in findings, results, and outcomes rather than the methodology of the research.

Here is the third of a four-volume set that constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2007, held in Beijing, China, in July 2007, jointly with eight other thematically similar conferences. It covers multimodality and conversational dialogue; adaptive, intelligent and emotional user interfaces; gesture and eye gaze recognition; and interactive TV and media.

Drawing from hundreds of school visits, studies, and expert interviews, the authors have concluded that the rush to use computers in schools has led to one of the most expensive and least helpful revolutions in the history of American education, robbing children of education in music and the arts.