yep yep Snuggle i agree with you for taking my damn physiology class and the REM state of dreaming and all that wonderful stuff you wrote that i dont want to repeat :)

But using a computer at an early age does effect memorization but also it helps in the long run with how we do things that are needed to learn to progress. Ive had a computer since i was in 3nd grade i finally took a computer class in 7th grade. (1999) I knew the concepts of a computer and mouse keyboard thing and what RAM and HDD meant but typing was something i was still poor at but i knew how to do it fairly well. Ive always been horrible at English and grammar just look at this post and others :). But the computer also helped me remember how to write a word out or spell it correctly so if it was wrong it wasnt totally fucked up to where your guessing for a word and its totally the opposite of that word. I would rather write on pen/paper but computers just make it easier and faster. It might give our kids and future generations down the line a disadvantage eventually when everything goes digital or something and we lose how to typically write a letter to someone via pen/paper when its essentially the same thing. Penmen ship will continue to go downward with the use of computers making everything neat and tiddy.

I say computers at an early age is good probably not like pre-k - 1st grade but anything after 2nd grade you should at least get the concepts of a computer and typing even if its hunt and peck. But by 5th grade or so they should be proficient in typing a 1-2page paper properly just like we were suppose to be able to write a paper via pen/paper.

I agree with you 100%. I was working in middle schools and high schools over the last few years and the use of technology is extremely beneficial when working with young kids and helps them a great deal later on in life. I have seen that a lot of the old school teachers that have been teaching for over 10 yrs seem to resist the use of the computer in school.

How old is this lady and how long has she been teaching?

My family is basically made up of people in the education field and i have seen divides between my grandmother and mom more old school approach and a more technology embracing attitude that myself and cousins that are working in the schools have. She might just be really bad at using the computer and today many kids are better with pcs than their teachers so she could be resistant because of an inferiority issue or fealing like she wouldn't be able to do her job if it was computer based.

Snuggle you are missing my point entirely. I am not even suggesting that we don't teach children how to write or that we teach kids to lean on the computer for things like doing their math and using google to lookup facts. I am saying use computers as a tool to accelerate their ability to learn. It is a fact that teaching small children to use a pen is a completely inefficient use of their time. It is a by product of the fact that over one hundred years ago when the "modern" teaching curriculum was defined their was no other way to collect information from students, so they had to be taught to write using a pen and paper. The fine motor skills required to perform this act efficiently do not typically develop in most children until the age of 9-10, and anyone who has children can attest to the fact that the little ones struggle mightily to master this skill in their early years. Most kids do not become competent in their penmanship until the 4th grade or beyond, and this fact alone demonstrates the validity of my argument.

The fact is that if I were to take a nine year old child who has been typing on a computer for 4-5 years and teach them to write with a pen it would take that child a month or two to master using the pen. At that point they would already know how to read, understand the basics of grammar and how to formulate cohesive thoughts, and have a decent vocabulary and be competent at spelling. Their fine motor skills would be more fully developed and it would not be a major issue to teach a child of 9-10 how to hold a pen and write words. It is actually highly likely that all the years of forcing a child to use the pen early in life are nothing more than a complete waste of time. I do not agree with you that using a pen as a young child supports the arguments you put out regarding memory in any other way than it reinforces the act of writing itself in memory. You need to understand that the psychology of children is far different than that of the fully developed human brain...small children are almost entirely focused on the task at hand rather than the meaning behind it.

In any case I don't have to prove that computers are an effective learning tool...many studies have been done on that subject and I think you would be hard pressed to find a study that was executed using accepted scientific methodology which indicated anything different. In every study I pulled up with Google while we were having the discussion the results were absolutely consistent...test groups using computers at all age levels performed better on subsequent subject matter testing both immediately following instruction and scored higher on subject matter retention when tested at a later date. Go ahead and Google it yourself or if you want I will post the links.

Bottom line is if you use computers in a controlled manner with appropriate software they are an invaluable asset for education and any teacher who thinks otherwise and refuses to incorporate them into the curriculum is doing their students a disservice and should not be allowed to teach.

You are completely on target Greatness, the gal is in her mid 50's and has been teaching for about 35 years. She is completely technically illiterate, has an email account only because all the teachers at the school have one but she admitted that she never uses it. She does not even own a cell phone and does not use the internet for anything. She even said she still uses an overhead projector in her classroom.

Basically she wants it to be 1975 again.

I have seen this a lot my mom is the vp at a middle school and her principal is retiring because she is computer illiterate and completely behind the times. She cannot relate to the students and as a result can not effectively lead her teaching staff. I think it is just the natural cycle of things in the education field. It sounds like this lady doesn't have much longer to be in the classroom before people start calling her on her bull shit and lack of ability to evolve and adapt to an every changing environment. Many school districts are adopting new policies that better address the needs of a diverse student base and bringing in a new wave of younger administration and the older teachers ect like this lady are being weeded out.

tell her to go make you a F*CKING sandwich

I think it's better the sooner kids are introduced to computers. Computers are used for nearly everything, even surgeons today. Surgeons are beginning to just type things into the computer to guide this robotic hand into doing its task, the faster typer you are the better. So if kids become great typists at a young age they could be the next surgeons!