Let me confess at the outset that I've got mixed feelings about this topic,
and more broadly about computer use by the very young (K-1).

It seems to me that there are so many things that kids of this age have to
learn, and that some of the central ones are about learning to be with
other kids, using their hands and their bodies, and sensing and
manipulating tangible things as they learn about them. They will soon
enough get lured into deskworkandwatching abstractions on a flat
screen. Shouldn't kids at this age just be kids?

On the other side of mybrain, I recognize the need to familiarizekids
early with the conventions of the computer and the web, and that finding
keys on the keyboard and moving a mouse around is as valid a way of
developing small motor skills as knot tying and drawing with crayons. I
know that my own son, now 12 and an absolute wizard at computer use, wasn't
hurt at all by living in a house filled with computers and computer-obsessed
parents.

So my feelings are mixed. Should kids in K-3, and especially K-1 focus on
sniffing the crayons and tossing the beanbags or should the Dilbertization
start early? What do you all think?

---------------
BernieD asks, "The floor is open. What do YOU think?"

KarenRL asks, "Can't they do both, perhaps in a sufficient quantity to
create a balance?"

Marcia [guest] says, "I think the use of web quests with younger students
is a positive experience, if the activities provide
for developmentally appropriate (hands on) learning."

BernieD asks, "How much time onlineequals a balance?"

AdamG says, "I think a major part of school is preparing students for the
real world and it doesn'tget any more real world then
computers."

KarenRL says, "I don't know. I only see k-3 students twice a week, 55
minutes. It would depend on the unit.""

CynthiaM exclaims, "I think that both can be done. I have a five year old
son who loves to color with crayons and create
sculptures with anything he can get his hands on, but he
is also great with programs like Kid Pix. He taught his
grandmother to use computers!"

AdamG says, "I have used"

BernieD asks, "Ah... but will today's 1st graders be using Windows? Mice?
15 inch monitors?"

JaniceF says, "I am reading a book by Jane Healy where it makes the same
points. She talks alotabout brain development. Her thought
is that we are hurting kid's brains...I think sometimes that
they are just developing different brains."

Jan_NS says, "use software and websitesthat blend with the unit/lesson
objectives to"

DebbieH says, "Since many children this age are in front of a television

Printed for Bernie Dodge <bdodge@mail.sdsu.edu>

5