$99 CVS Sylvania

[psikeyhackr]

I think it's a good buy for a quick on the go gift for my daughter. She has a regular laptop, but something smaller would work better with her 6 year old hands.

Actually I am impressed by how light it is.  Now I understand the business of people saying they walked around the house with their iPad.  My PMA400 is tolerable as a book reader but this actually is very good with Wordpad for text and an HTML viewer and PDF viewer.

I plugged it into a 30 gig hard drive last night and played flash videos from it.  That worked OK but the USB ports are not 2.0s.

This shows the price of computers does not really matter anymore, it is the quality of the information.  An 8 gig SD card can hold from 400 to 16,000 books depending on the size and format.  So if all of K-12 education can be put on a single SD card and the computer only costs $100 then what does that say about the educational futures of kids that actually want to learn.

Are the teachers just in the way?

Here is an example:

http://www.ebook3000.com/Teach-Yourself-Electricity-and-Electronics-4-Ed_55197.html

I wish someone could have given me that when I was in 7th grade.  The paper book is $35.  Three books like that pay for this computer.  We have the technology to solve any so called education crisis.  I bet our so called educators don't want to implement it though.

Isn't this sci-fi to the future?

http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/funtheyhad.html

LOL

psik

[Rico]

Computers are great tools and aides to learning, but they certainly can't replace a good teacher.  I've taught in middle school and high school.  My wife is still a high school foreign language teacher.  When you have students that want to learn and are going over a chemistry experiment or language lesson you can alter and adjust the lesson based on the class and the students.  You need to help them sometimes in more areas and less in others.  It takes an experienced teacher to be able to do this effectively.  Something software just is not capable of at this point.

[Bryancd]

Put a 7th grader alone in a room with an iPad and they will walk out with a PhD. Just saying. :)

[Rico]

Put a 7th grader alone in a room with an iPad and they will walk out with a PhD. Just saying. :)

Bryan - don't make me laugh so hard in the morning.  Now I have my green tea spewed everywhere.

[Bryancd]

I'll be here all week! Try the veal!

[moyer777]

budump bump.  ;)

[psikeyhackr]

Computers are great tools and aides to learning, but they certainly can't replace a good teacher.  I've taught in middle school and high school.  My wife is still a high school foreign language teacher.  When you have students that want to learn and are going over a chemistry experiment or language lesson you can alter and adjust the lesson based on the class and the students.  You need to help them sometimes in more areas and less in others.  It takes an experienced teacher to be able to do this effectively.  Something software just is not capable of at this point.

I taught myself trigonometry from my older sisters high school book.  The nuns didn't use the algebra book they had us buy and trig looked more interesting.

Heard of Vero Beach Florida, 1987???

The school board in Indian River County in Florida confronted the problems that accompanied keeping at-risk students in regular classes, and they looked for a solution. A new use of computers was suggested: remove these students from regular classrooms, and let the machines teach them. Since teachers didn't relish the difficulties involved in trying to teach these students, it was an opportunity to try something new without arousing opposition from teachers. After considering the options, the school board authorized the establishment of a program using computers. It was begun in Vero Beach High School in 1987. School authorities put the at-risk students into a separate section where teaching was done, not by teachers, but by computers. Teachers in these classes became facilitators of learning.

Instructors in regular classes were relieved. Computerized education took unruly students out of their mainstream classes. Therefore, both instructors and other pupils in these classes benefited immediately.

Since the Vero Beach experiment began, results have been beyond expectations. One indication of its success is that many other school districts in Florida have investigated and copied the program. Schools from across the nation also heard of its achievements and have visited the school and its coordinator, Ms. Judy Jones.

http://www.cris.com/~faben1/section1.shtml

The trouble is I haven't found anything about the hardware or the software they were using.  In 1987 Intel had not even introduced the 486.  That was 1989.

It is so curious that the computers could be used without opposition from the teachers on students that the teachers didn't want to be bothered with anyway.  But it has been 23 YEARS!!!  Why isn't this common knowledge and being implemented broadly.  How much more powerful have computers become in 23 years?

Science fiction isn't just about technology improving it is about how it affects society IF THAT SOCIETY CHOOSES TO MAKE USE OF IT.  But different people within society have different interests in how to use and NOT USE technology.

http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/funtheyhad.html

If schools won't use the tech properly maybe parents need to get the computers for their children and ignore the politically and economically motivated school systems.

psik