[Techtalk] improving computer usage in schools

[Vera Childs]

On 2/12/2003 at 9:05 AM WolfRyder wrote:
>Our daughter, 5 years old now, has been playing games since she was 6 
>months old and figured out she could move the character on the screen by 
>pushing the mouse with her foot.... She has her own computer and plays all

>the learning games (sesame street, blues clues, you get my drift) as well 
>as "just for fun" games.

I was in elementary school when DOS-based PC labs were being added. In 1st
grade (6 years old), we learned Logo, which taught us a bit about geometry
and was quite fun. You didn't have to be a budding programmer in order to
enjoy that one.

Later in elementary school or maybe middle school, we played Oregon Trail,
which I don't remember what that taught us... I just remember playing it
and enjoying it.

In high school, we really only used the computer for some foreign language
games. They also offered an AP Computer Science class (for those who don't
know what AP is - it's Advanced Placement, where if you pass a national
test at the end of the year, you can often get college credit for that
course), but I didn't take it, since I wasn't interested in computers at
that time (late bloomer, I guess:).


-Vera