Calif. U.S.A.- Once, elementary school students used chalkboards, abacuses, calculators, and paper and pencil to add one and two, calculate multiplication problems, write reports, and practice penmanship. School supplies that were once classroom necessities are now dinosaurs of the past in many learning facilities. These days, children are computer-connected. With digital libraries at their fingertips, knowledge is but a click away, and students love it. Kids 9 and 10 years old are communicating with their teachers and classmates via e-mail, gathering information on class topics from the Internet, and doing their homework on computers at home.
Technology is definitely prevalent in schools from elementary on up.
The field trip reminded Xplor just how much 6th graders already know about computers and technology. On the computers at school, I learned how to do more math and increase my reading ability. The students caught-on to the notion of documents presented in various forms, but needed further help in understanding how a document could be intelligent. As an example, Davidson opened a Web page created especially for the students' principal, Ms. Gunn. The Web page was designed so that information like the date, time, and Ms. Gunn's horoscope would change daily.