Re: [school-discuss] Distraction Device?

["James P. Kinney III" <jkinney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I always get a sarcastic giggle when I see statistics from "a study"
that support or refute an assertion. The author missed the entire point
of tools in education and he probably would have to argue that
transitioning from chalk on slate to pencil on paper was a technical
gee-gaw that only encouraged children to doodle more since they had more
space to do so. 
No tool is more important that it's user. A hammer can be used to build
a house for the homeless or drop it on your foot and cause pain. One
tool, two outcomes.
So the author mis-spent his youth and found ways to play games on a
device not intended to play games on and now he works in the computer
media arena bashing other devices for the same ability he had as a
child.
What else happened in his childhood that made him so sour?
No computer is useful without knowledge of how to use it. Exploration
and curiosity are vitally important mental abilities. The kids getting
OLPC are finding out how to use this gizo. That is learning. It's up to
the teachers and parents to guide their students and children through
the learning process. 
So it's not perfect. But is access to the world worth a few games?
I think so.
On Tue, 2008-06-10 at 03:14 -0700, Joel Kahn wrote:
> Here's a recent critique of the One Laptop
> Per Child project and similar efforts in
> the area of educational technology:
> 
> http://www.slate.com/id/2192798/
> 
> I'm curious about people's reactions to this.
> 
> Joel
> 
> 
> 
>       
> 
-- 
James P. Kinney III          
CEO & Director of Engineering 
Local Net Solutions,LLC                           
http://www.localnetsolutions.com

GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
<jkinney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7


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