STSD Curriculum & Technology Update

Regular updates and musings on curriculum and technology in the Salisbury Township School District in Allentown, PA.

More on the $100 Laptop - One Laptop Per Child

Can The $100 Laptop Change The World?

The article is a bit lengthy, but it provides some interesting information on how this will all work—and it’s only 6 months or so away from being rolled out in major scale. The thing that I find most interesting is that its focus is on third-world countries. With all we’ve been reading about in terms of a global society, how will the success (which is still in question) of this project impact the world, but more specifically our country. Will their use of the laptop as a conduit to information give them an advantage (and quite possibly a serious advantage) over our students? Are we Americans missing the boat which is about to set sail? My biggest question: What is being done to provide teachers and students in these countries with the know-how for utilizing these sheets beyond what laptops tend to be used for in our country—electronic worksheets. It all seems like a very cool experiment - so stay tuned.

“By focusing on tools of exploration and expression—rather than instruction—in an environment that emphasizes collaboration, sharing, and critique, we think the laptop will become the agency for engaging children in constructing knowledge—to ‘learn learning.’ ”