Week #4

Laptops for All: Using Technology to Go Beyond Traditional Curriculum

Furger, Roberta. "Laptops for All: Using Technology to Go Beyond Traditional Curriculum | Edutopia." K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies That Work | Edutopia. 01 Nov. 2001. Web. 19 Aug. 2010. .

Summary:

This article talks in reference to students being able to have their own laptops in school. This school consists of grades 4-8. The school primarily consists of Hispanic students. The school is located in New York. In this piece we look at the benefits of using laptops in the classroom. Students are able to conduct a science experiment on the melting point of solids to liquid states. Of course there is your standard beaker and things of that nature in the experiment, but then this is where the laptop comes in. In this article students are able to collect data, organize, and graph it in real time. This would be very beneficial for data collection and statistic analysis. This article also addresses that there are some negatives as well. Technology can sometimes fail as we all know.

Reaction:

This article has many great points and benefits balanced with downfalls of technology as well. There are many benefits to using technology. For example, we look at how the students are able to collect, organize, and graph the statistics in real time. This is a great way to prevent human error, not too mention how much time this saves within the experiment, which can open up time for many other things to be covered. Technology is all around us today and that is clearly evident. I believe that it is a great idea to get these children immersed in the technology as soon as possible. This specific school is preparing these young learners for a successful future in a world that is so technologically advance by the time you check out with your laptop at the cash register it is no longer the newest and greatest out there. There is also a great deal of negatives to be addressed with technology. With technology things do not always go as planned. Technology can be very finicky at times and not produce or run the way you had intended. The cost of these laptops can be astronomical, from the up keep, to the initial purchase of the unit itself. It is great if every school in America could afford one but that will never happen, at least not in my lifetime. The only way I see this happening is due to federal funding and the laptops would be checked out, although that would still be costly. This is also a charter school and not a public one. In public schools this could be a much tougher experience. How can one mandate the purchase of a laptop when the funds are not there? This also becomes a safety issue when children from the ages of ten on up are walking home with a thousand dollar machine. They might lose it, or even worse someone could easily take it from them. I think the laptop integration is a great idea but is clearly unpractical and unreal.