Software appropriate to a grade school environment is continually added and upgraded as necessary. But busy teachers, who are already struggling to cover all material mandated by the State Board of Education, have little or no time remaining with which to introduce computer training and Internet research projects into the regular classroom curriculum. It is also a fact that many teachers cannot help their students take full advantage of available technology because they themselves do not know how to take advantage of it, and don't have the time to learn. Consequently, many teachers find themselves making only cursory efforts to integrate technology into their classrooms. That's a start, although for the most part such information can be gleaned just as readily from hard-bound encyclopedic volumes.
Encyclopedias have their place, of course.
Obviously, there is a big gap between having the technology, and making the best use of it. This is one of those instances where throwing money at the problem would definitely solve it. That's as likely to happen as winning the lottery tomorrow. Therefore, it is up to parents to step in and provide technical support to their child's teacher. Recruiting a cybermom or cyberdad volunteer for every classroom is a reachable goal.