Until classroom teachers are shown how new technologies can improve the way students learn and think in social studies, science and math class, they are unlikely to sit up, take notice and make significant use of these new tools. In a similar vein, Information Power , a publication being developed by the nation's librarians, suggests that our goal must be to show students how to solve problems and make decisions. Technology is not an end in itself. It is merely the highway or the car or the airplane which takes you where you want to go. Successful districts put student learning at the forefront of their planning, and then they design a technology project which combines the best of staff development practices with curriculum development and network installation.
Some districts make the mistake of claiming dozens of goals.
It is essential to focus upon two or three main possibilities . . . The best strategy is to write technology expectations into the curriculum guides. Every curriculum document should identify learning experiences and strategies which require the use of new technologies. For example, the language arts curriculum must state clearly that students in second grade right up through the end of high school will compose 10-15 papers annually using word processing software in combination with rich electronic information sources. In a similar manner, the social studies and science curriculum should name the occasions for analysis of data, global e-mail partnerships and investigations using electronic information.