Re: LOGO-L> computers in school

["Bill Kerr" <kerrb@senet.com.au>]

Dale R. Reed wrote in message
<002401bdec87$b95f1bc0$c160490c@321138723worldnet.att.net>...
>There is an article that you Logo-using teachers should find
>interesting at
>
>http://www.seattletimes.com/news/education/html98/comp_093098.html
>
>Computers not used properly, school study says
(snip)

Didn't really understand this article Dale. I agree that Logo properly used
will teach the deep structure of maths, problem finding and solving etc. I
also agree that Schools usually do not use computers properly.

But ....  if computers are used to teach maths drill and if the school tests
the results of that drill then I would expect the results of those tests to
show an improvement. ie. to an extent I think behaviourism does work, it
just doesn't work for teaching creativity.

When the article says that computer maths drill are "ineffective" then I
would say ineffective for what? I think it has been shown that such drills
are effective for teaching maths drill which is what a lot of schools are on
about. I don't agree with schools being on about this but its not such a
simple matter to break out of the loop because most maths teacher put
teaching maths problem finding and solving in the too hard basket, so it
doesn't become an issue in the first place.

Patrick Suppes has shown that computer maths drill is effective to a point,
especially in disadvanataged school environments, eg. this is cited in
Cynthia Solomons book, "Computer Environments for Children" (p. 24). She
compares the drill approach with Papert's constructionism in this book. Also
the method used by Haime Escalante in the "Stand and Deliver" movie was
drill based although not with computers.

As a teacher in a disadvantaged school I find I have to do lots of drill and
practice but I intersperse this with more creative other maths activities. I
think it would be a mistake to omit either one.
-- Bill Kerr
----------------------------------------------------------
quoting parts of the article that I don't follow below:
"The students' lower scores appeared to be caused by the ineffective but
widespread use of computers for repetitive math drills, instead of
simulations and real-life applications of math concepts, computer uses that
seem to improve math scores. ......"

"The study's author, Harold Wenglinsky, also identified a troubling racial
element in the varying use of computers. His work indicated that black
children use computers to learn mathematics somewhat more often than white
children, but that blacks are far more likely than whites to engage in the
less-useful drill and practice exercises. "





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