These whole-class sessions are planned with the teacher to integrate the technology into the ongoing curriculum. The computer teacher takes primary responsibility for instruction, with the classroom teacher assisting and overseeing the management of the class. Computer classes often begin with a brief period of instruction, followed by individual or collaborative student work at the computers. Students learn to use the Internet to gather information from outside resources when conducting research. The Computer Room is kept open from 8 am to 6 pm daily.
Teachers also come into the room to use the computer resources.
The computer teacher manages the mini-school's technology and educational applications. He makes it a point not to push teachers, yet articulation between the Computer Room and regular classrooms could be enhanced if more teachers were interested and had confidence in applications other than word processing. Lack of time for in-service training on instructional uses of technology is a major impediment. The researchers attribute the higher achievement level to the greater cohesiveness of the mini-school program, an attribute that is supported by, but not solely attributable to, the use of technology. A classroom teacher asserted that activities involving the LOGO programming language helped her students develop better understandings of mathematical concepts and procedural, logical thinking.