However, we seem largely to ignore the affective power of technology in our classrooms. Those of us who work closely with children recognize that many children connect with new technology. They like working with it. In short, they own it. To maximize the power of technology in our classrooms, we need to take advantage of all the power technology affords.
Many educators use an implementation approach that parcels out the power in small portions.
This approach tends to quench rather than fuel the fire in children's eyes. Our major concerns are to prepare children to use the power for learning and to facilitate or guide that use. We offer two classroom experiences that illustrate the difference between keeping the power of technology in the educators' domain and releasing that power into the hands of the children. We consult with several typical schools that have a moderate to high level of new technology. In one of these schools, teachers and students had been using a variety of hardware and software for several years.