Schools should focus less on teaching students the mechanics
of how to operate computers and instead educate children about
the ethical issues, history, and inner workings of technology,
according to a new group of educators, doctors, psychologists,
and other child advocates.
The newly formed Alliance
for Childhood has posted its first position statement, "Technology
Literacy: Four Guiding Principles for Educators and Parents."
The draft statement -- the Alliance is seeking public input
before releasing a final statement later this year -- offers four
recommendations:
* In the early grades (at least through sixth grade), focus
on developing children's minds, rather than their computer skills.
Word-processing, spreadsheet, and Internet skills can be developed
in high school, the Alliance says, so "it makes little sense to
waste precious time wiring the developing brains of young children
to what will soon be yesterday's hardware and software."
* Include the study of ethics and responsibility in every technology-training
program. "To send young people out into the world with great skill
in operating these machines but no ethical instruction to guide
their use is educationally and socially irresponsible," according
to the Alliance.
* Make the study of how computers work part of the core curriculum
of high schools. To improve understanding of the circuitry and
capabilities of computers, the Alliance suggests having students
learn to take apart and reassemble simple computers.
* Require high school students to study the history of technology
as a social force. "Because computers and other new information
technologies are wielding an ever-expanding influence on all our
daily lives," the Alliance says, "information technologies should
be a high priority for ... critical historical analysis."
U.S. kids are media junkies
America's children are growing up in homes saturated with media.
The average U.S. child lives in a home with three TVs, three tape
players, three radios, two VCRs, two CD players, one video game
player, and one computer. Almost two-thirds of children ages 8
and over have a TV in their bedroom, and in 58 percent of homes,
televisions are on during meals.
These are some of the findings of "Kids
& Media @ the New Millennium," an analysis of children's
media use by The Henry J. Kaiser
Family Foundation. The analysis also found that the average
American child spends two hours and 46 minutes watching TV each
day, about 48 minutes listening to CDs or tapes, 44 minutes reading,
39 minutes listening to the radio, 21 minutes using the computer
for fun, 20 minutes playing video games, and eight minutes on
the Internet.
The statistics document the media's central role in shaping
the lives of America's children, Donald F. Roberts, an author
of the study and a professor of communications at Stanford University,
told the Washington Post.
"Most parents will be dumbfounded by this," Roberts said. "Most
parents will say, 'Not my child.' And most parents will be wrong."
Parents are facing a "media environment" that has changed radically
in recent years, the report said. And many aren't exercising control
over how their media-drenched children spend their time. Almost
half of all children -- and 61 percent of those ages 8 and over
-- don't have any rules about how much or what kind of TV they
can watch.
Despite television's dominant role, most children said that
if forced to choose among media, they would rather have a computer.
Asked which medium they would bring to a desert island, 33 percent
of children ages 8 to 18 chose a computer, while 24 percent chose
CDs, tapes, or a radio, 13 percent chose video games, 13 percent
picked television, 8 percent chose books or magazines, and 3 percent
chose videos.
The growing popularity of computers was also cited by "Youth
Cyberstudy 1999," a report on the media's impact on family
life by America Online and the research firm of Roper Starch.
This study found that 63 percent of children ages 9 to 17 would
rather go online than watch TV, and that 55 percent would rather
go online than talk on the telephone. The study also found that
"49 percent of young people influenced their parents' decision
to connect their homes to the Internet, and 66 percent report
that they help their parents use the medium."
Some schools are adding "artificial intuition" to their arsenal
of weapons aimed at combating school violence. Thirty schools
across the country are field-testing a new computerized system,
known as Mosaic
2000, that's designed to help identify potentially violent
students.
Based on a program that has been used for almost 20 years to
help law enforcement agencies identify people prone to violence,
Mosaic 2000 supplies a checklist of questions for school administrators
to answer about students' suicide threats, past victimization,
access to guns, etc. A computerized scoring system helps administrators
decide whether a particular student is "normal" or potentially
dangerous.
"Every principal in America already has a method for evaluating
students who make threats -- it's just that most of those methods
are unorganized, idiosyncratic, and cannot be effectively documented
or objectively expressed," according to Gavin de Becker Inc.,
the California security company that developed the system. "Mosaic
2000 is intended to bring uniformity, structure, expert opinion,
and quality to high-stakes evaluations. And it is intended to
lessen overreaction to threats."
Critics don't view the program so benignly. "This is a very
disturbing program because it's designed to classify students
as potentially dangerous," said Liz Schroeder of the American
Civil Liberties Union. "It may have the unintended consequence
of sending troubled kids underground. They'll just remain silent,
rather than end up in a database with law enforcement investigating
them."
On its web site, Gavin de Becker assures potential clients that
Mosaic 2000 is a stand-alone system, not linked to any outside
database or network, and students' names are automatically deleted
after the evaluation process is complete.
Many school officials, struggling to differentiate between real
threats and hoaxes, welcomed the artificial-intuition system.
"Educators need a tool to help them make these kinds of decisions,
because high-stakes decisions typically bring up a lot of emotion,"
said Sharon Cordes, technology director at Placentia-Yorba Linda
Unified School District, one of several California districts testing
the system. "This program helps remove a little of that, so you
can think more clearly."
7,000 lessons online
Looking for a genetics lesson for advanced biology students?
A novel way to teach Shakespeare's Hamlet? Or maybe just
a simple outline on the causes of the Revolutionary War?
Try the U.S. Department of Education's Gateway
to Educational Materials, a web site offering more than 7,000
lessons, prekindergarten through adult education, that are available
free to educators.
One kindergarten math lesson, for example, shows how to use
dominoes to teach children to add and subtract. A 12th-grade resource
called "How Things Work" teaches students about the principles
of physics, and an adult education program called "The Grammar
Lady" answers questions about common grammar mistakes.
Educators are encouraged to submit their own lesson plans and
other resources.
The web site was created by the National Library of Education
and the ERIC Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. The operators
of the site said they are planning upgrades, such as the addition
of fee-based resources and the ability to access resources according
to academic standards.
For high school students, the night before a test is often fraught
with anxiety and confusion. How do you solve this math equation?
Why does this formula work, but not that one? Unfortunately, teachers
are frequently not available to offer last-minute help.
But one Virginia teacher is using the Internet to ease the stress.
Charley Butcher, a sophomore biology teacher at Lord
Botetourt High School in Daleville, Va., has created an online
study group for his students. The night before a test -- and many
other nights -- Butcher sits at home, answering e-mail questions
about biology. His top students also help answer questions.
It started when one student sent Butcher a question via e-mail,
then forwarded his answer to a classmate. Soon, Butcher was answering
several biology questions every night and decided to make himself
available to all his students. To be fair to students who don't
have computers at home, he also began offering early morning tutoring
sessions at the school.
After just two online review sessions, Butcher said he noticed
an improvement in biology test grades. In fact, the study group
grew so popular that one night before a test, 38 of the 58 students
in Butcher's classes who have computers at home either e-mailed
questions or joined in study group discussions about the test.
Testing schools of education on technology
Too many teachers are graduating from education schools not
knowing how to integrate technology into their classrooms, prompting
a group of business and education leaders to challenge those schools
to take a hard look at what they do.
To help schools of education assess themselves, the CEO
Forum on Education and Technology -- a group of corporate
executives and education leaders -- has created a self-assessment
tool called the "Teacher
Preparation School Technology and Readiness (STaR) Chart."
It is designed to give schools of education a better idea of how
well they are preparing teachers to use technology.
The CEO Forum called on all schools of education to take the
assessment and publicize their performance no later than July.
Forum members said schools that do poorly should make changes
in their programs as quickly as possible to ensure that all new
teachers have adequate technology skills by 2001.
"If we are going to expect our children to leave school with
technology skills and successfully compete in a global economy,
then we must ensure their teachers are adequately prepared to
integrate technology into the curriculum," said John Hendricks,
founder, chairman, and CEO of Discovery Communications, Inc.,
and cochairman of the CEO Forum. "The STaR Chart will help teacher
education programs chart a new course, if they use it, and if
their supporting institutions pay attention to the findings."
Anne Bryant, executive director of the National
School Boards Association and a former cochair of the CEO
Forum, said: "Too often, the university school of education is
the forgotten child when it comes to investing resources, including
new technology, faculty training and technical support. No child
-- or program -- can be left behind, especially programs to train
the teachers who will guide our children through the 21st century."
GRANTS TO BRIDGE THE GAP
The federal government is making $12.5 million in grants available
to schools and other organizations that want to help close the
"digital divide." Eligible for the grants are local governments
and nonprofits that develop projects that provide opportunities
for technologically underserved communities to use the Internet
at home and to use it for business and education. The
Technology Opportunities Program has an application deadline
of March 16.
IN THE PALMS OF THEIR HANDS
Seniors at a Palo Alto, Calif., high school are trying out Palm
VII personal organizers this school year as part of a project
started by a senior executive at 3Com's Palm Computing Division.
The electronic organizer has built-in wireless functions, and
allows students to organize their schedules and exchange e-mails.
Complaints so far: The Palm VII has a short battery life.
E-Wire is prepared with Associated Press (AP) reports.
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