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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Valerie,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>In the 1820’s in <st1:State w:st="on">Ontario</st1:State>
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
there was a Teacher’s Association resolution condemning slates use in
schools. The teachers were concerned that the slates were expensive and that students
no longer knew how to roll birch bark for writing on. Also, I remember when in
school in the 50s, in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
the teachers would not let us use ball point pens (biros) because they were
expensive and we would not learn how to use our wooden quill pens properly. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>All the best.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Rory<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
discussion-bounces@g1to1.org [mailto:discussion-bounces@g1to1.org] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Yishay Mor<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Tuesday, May 08, 2007 4:31
AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> Valerie Crawford<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Cc:</span></b> discussion@g1to1.org<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Re: NYT article: Schools
drop laptop programs</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Saw this last week, and couldn't resist throwing in my 2p:<br>
<br>
<a
href="http://www.noe-kaleidoscope.org/people/yish/blog/start-0_-2007-05-08_read-87">http://www.noe-kaleidoscope.org/people/yish/blog/start-0_-2007-05-08_read-87
</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<h3><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'><a
href="http://www.noe-kaleidoscope.org/people/yish/blog/start-0_-2007-05-08_read-87"
title="read message">Stop press: Shlepping a chunk of plastic and wires does
not improve your grades.</a> <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Winnie Hu from the NYT writes about <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/education/04laptop.html" target="_blank">schools
ditching their laptop programmes for lack of results</a> . A must read.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>When the school tightened its network security, a 10th grader not only
found a way around it but also posted step-by-step instructions on the Web for
others to follow (which they did).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Wow. Talk about problem solving. Collaborative learning. These kids are
obviously learning something. Well, the school, and the reporter, where not
that impressed<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Yet school officials here and in several other places said laptops had
been abused by students, did not fit into lesson plans, and showed little, if
any, measurable effect on grades and test scores at a time of increased
pressure to meet state standards.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>That is surprising, given the reports from <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Maine</st1:place></st1:State><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Attendance is up. Detentions are down. Just six months after <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Maine</st1:place></st1:State> began a
controversial program to provide laptop computers to every seventh grader in
the state, educators are impressed by how quickly students and teachers have
adapted to laptop technology."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/05/nyregion/05LAPT.html?ex=1179268008&ei=1&en=469140e27abd5a63"
target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/05/nyregion/05LAPT.html?ex=1179268008&ei=1&en=469140e27abd5a63
</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>"You hear kids say: I feel smarter now", "some say it
has transformed the relationships between students and teachers"<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4660781"
target="_blank">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4660781</a><br>
<br>
<br>
The answer is at the end of the article. A teacher is quoted:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>"Let's face it, math is for the most part still a paper-and-pencil
activity when you're learning it," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>In the early 19C schools in <st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region>
and <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place> <a
href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/teachingmath/" target="_blank">introduced
slates and number frames</a> as means for maths instruction. Until then, the
standard method was - a teacher reading out of a text book, and students
chanting after. Exams were oral, and students were expected to recite textbook
proofs down to variable names. I can see the Winnie Hu of the day quoting a
teacher:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>"Let's face it, learning maths is still for the most part
repeating after the teacher. A slate just gets in the way."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
<br>
___________________________<br>
Yishay Mor, Researcher, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:City>
Knowledge Lab<br>
<a href="http://www.lkl.ac.uk/people/mor.html">http://www.lkl.ac.uk/people/mor.html</a><br>
<a href="http://yishaym.wordpress.com">http://yishaym.wordpress.com</a><br>
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/yishaymor">https://www.linkedin.com/in/yishaymor</a><br>
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href="http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=yishaym%40gmail.com">http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=yishaym%40gmail.com
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