Paul Heinrich considers the evidence. Once teachers were heard openly discussing the excitement and motivation of children using the class computer. The pleasure of clean, crisp print on a page, or success in completing adventure games were found to encourage children who were otherwise 'switched off' by traditional offerings. Today, many classroom computers are regarded by children as rather inferior tools. This may seem akin to climbing Everest without oxygen, but think again.
Good teachers find all manner of ways to motivate children.
In the first children are sitting in pairs at the computers, one of each pair working the keys, the other the mouse as they learn to 'keyboard'. In another class there is unregulated access to a small number of computers. The pushy and aggressive students dominate, pushing the meek, and especially girls, away from the systems. Children who do not have any real interest in the computer as a tool are especially disadvantaged. The majority of these students are turned off IT even before they have really experienced its benefits, or the excitement of good quality software.