Learning in the Real World

Photo © David Douglas Duncan, used by permission

Computers' Role in Education

"Computer literacy" has become a key phrase in defining the goal of schools and teachers. As computers have become more important in professions and the workplace, many Americans have assumed they should become equally important in the classroom.

However, educators and parents are now finding disturbing data which, at the very least, cast doubt on the assumption that computers play a valuable role in early primary grades. The Executive Director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, in a New York Times article, "Maybe Computers Aren't Schools' Salvation" warned, "If computers make a difference, it has yet to show up in achievement. The Atlantic Monthly summarized the conclusions of its year-long study with the headline "The Computer Delusion". There is no good evidence that most uses of computers significantly improve teaching and learning." The findings of the Los Angeles Times: Classroom Computers Remain More Promise Than Panacea. Districts rush to deploy high tech tools, but few academic gains are seen." The San Jose Mercury-News, in its own ground-breaking investigation, commissioned an analysis of test scores and the amount of computer technology in a variety of area schools. It found no demonstrable benefit from the classroom computers.

Learning in the Real World is dedicated to a rational examination of the costs and benefits of education technology before a decision is made concerning where and how much to invest.

Earlier Disappointments

This is not the first time Californians Americans have been promised a quick solution by computer proponents. In the late '70s there was a rush of enthusiasm to place computers in every California school with the notion that they would solve our learning problems. Among the more charitable things said about computers (once their limitations were observed) were, "expensive flash cards" and "drill and kill".

A basic truth in education is that a child must be literate before he or she is computer literate. The best teacher has always been a person, not a machine.

Time Displacement

Anyone who has watched kids in a video arcade, or has logged onto the World Wide Web, knows how computers can gobble up time. California American children already spend less of their day in school than most American students or in countries which are our economic competitors overseas. We must examine if time with computers in the classroom is paying off.

Real World Experiences

Which is a better learning environment: reality or virtual reality? In the three dimensional, real world, kids encounter the unexpected. On the two dimensional screen, children see only the choices a programmer has developed for them. While presenting the illusion of options, a computer can only deliver a limited number. The keyboard and mouse constrain a child's option to reach out and touch the world.

In the real world we can teach, explore and learn the patterns of connection which link different people, plants, animals and places. If education software even attempts to deal with these crucial concepts, the limits of the media may make the presentation inflexible, superficial, and inadequate.

Cognitive Development

Children are not little adults. Their minds, just like their bodies, go through a well-orchestrated series of stages of development. There may be serious consequences for a child's intellectual and emotional development if she/he is subjected to inappropriate pressure, involving computers, to accelerate in the classroom. Research into this important area is in its early stages. In the absence of thorough data it seems prudent to proceed cautiously.

The Agenda

Important questions must be raised before decisions are made. As educational researchers and the media examine these questions, their finding support the need for more skepticism. Educators, parents and policy makers can make their best choices when they recognize the level of uncertainty which surrounds the concept of computer based instruction. Those choice must be based on data and analysis, not fear or faith that seem to characterize the rush to invest in computers in the classroom. Until more data are available, the best choice may be to leave our options open.