A contrarian view. "Some education experts say that the push to equip classrooms with computers is unwarranted because studies do not clearly show that this leads to better test scores or other measurable gains."
Maung - I just tweeted this! The irony? I read it on my Android smartphone at the Apple store waiting to buy my iPad2!! Would love to talk more about this in class because I DID learn the "old fashioned" way and here I am as an adult, proficient at technology and attending Harvard...am I any less off for not being a digital native? Am I behind the rest of my HGSE because of it? Or has my learning technology as a late teen and adult benefitted me in some way that cannot be proven unless we conduct research with a control group devoid of technology
all together during those early formative years? Would love to continue this discussion!
First of all - the girl in the picture of this article is reading Nancy Drew - who else spent most of their childhood with their head buried in a mystery series? :-) Secondly, I cannot tell you how valuable mud was to my childhood. Had I not been at a camp every summer where I was able to play around in mud and run through the woods all day, I would not be the person I am today. I think I did most of my growing and much of my learning in informal environments such as camp. It sounds to me like this school is trying to replicate those learning experiences...in a classroom. Not saying it's the way to go...but certainly an interesting model. Thanks for sharing!
Waldorf philosophy is different approach. For example, children learn to write first before they learn to read. As a result children may learn to read as late as 8 or 9. It's based on the anthroposophy philosophy. Children's who parents value these things will do well in a school without technology. Children who are plugged in at home would have a difficult time. This is effective for private school but not public school.