Hey Makenna and Ashley here are some of the sections in our article I found kind of interesting and some of my own thoughts concerning those things. I look forward to seeing what you guys think.


Hamstra used a software application called DyKnow Vision to let her students analyze various passages from the books on computer screens at their desk. She then posted their work on a large-screen monitor at the front of the classroom (the computer lab, in this case), and the students discussed the displayed examples. Hamstra has also had students analyze similar passages using pen and paper.[1]

[1] School had some high tech stuff is this the same everywhere?

"were deeper than with pen and ink," Hamstra says. "The focus was really sharp. There's something about changing over to an electronic medium, something about that screen. It's psychological. It's a generational thing."[2]

[2] I really agree with this paragraph. I have seen in my self how you can express yourself more on the computer than you can by just writing.


A survey by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that young people (ages 8-18) mainline electronic media for more than six hours a day, on average. Interestingly, many are multitasking -- listening to music while surfing the Web or instant-messaging friends while playing a video game[3].

[3] Interesting statistic about how much media and digital stuff kids are getting into.


One way of competing with electronic distractions is to optimize lessons for the MEdia Generation's rapid-fire meme-hopping tendencies.[4]

[4] Make our lessons better.


A recent survey by CDW Corporation shows that teachers are more likely to use technology to ease the administrative requirements of K-12 education than to utilize it in instructional applications. More than 85 percent of respondents in CDW's Teachers Talk Tech survey say that while they are adequately trained on Internet, word processing, and email software, 27 percent have little or no training with integrating computers into lessons. Nonetheless, the survey indicates that more than 70 percent of teachers at all grade levels believe computers are an important driver of student learning.[5]

[5] From this survey it sounds like teachers know technology is important but are not utilizing it in their classrooms especially to enforce their lessons.


Consequently, teachers spend most of the day in drill-and-practice mode, preparing for standardized tests.[6]

[6] Standardized testing is hindering teachers abilities to integrate technology into the classroom.


More than half the students in a nationwide survey by the National Governors' Association said their classwork is easy, and two-thirds reported they would work harder if their coursework were more interesting or challenging.[7]

[7] Class work is easy but not interesting or challenging.


The theory behind Logo was that children, by actually creating their own learning environment, would retain far more knowledge than they would from ordinary teaching methods.[8]

[8] Theory is that by kids creating their own learning environment, they will retain far more knowledge.


The problem, Kay told me in a recent email, is largely with "the difficulty of adults to adjust to new ideas. I don't mean really new ideas like computing, but ideas new to the human race, like science and how it uses mathematics, or even slightly older ideas like reading and writing. Teaching the latter is still a struggle, despite its relative antiquity (and despite the fact that we know very well how to do it best). And real mathematics and real science are not yet taught in elementary and even most high schools."[9]

[9] A big part of the problem of technology getting into the classroom is the adults adapting and using this new technology.


"Kids are bombarded by media," says Blake. "They're completely high tech, and they don't know a different way. When you hand them a book, they're going to say, 'Is this all there is?'"[10]

[10] Technology is the way kids think.


. "This is a mix-and-match generation," Blake says. "I'm looking at these things as a way to hook into what they're doing outside the classroom. When they see that I know how to use the technology, they think, 'This is going to be cool.'"[11]

[11] Mix and match generation.


But in the end, the best way for students to learn about the world they live in is to have a hand in creating it. "The key to teaching is keeping kids involved," says Ryan Ritz, the computer science teacher who first brought the DyKnow system to the Park Tudor School. "They like everything being electronic -- it's speaking their language."[12]


[12] Keep kids involved and interested in what they are learning.