Computers in Education 5-13

This reader has been assembled to help teachers wishing to use computers in a learner centred way with children aged five to thirteen. The editors take a learner centred approach to education to involve an interest in the development of: problem-solving skills, creativity, effective cooperation, decision-making skills, independent learning strategies, a capacity for systematic enquiry and information handling ability. Many of the papers are about the ways in which these target aims can be conceived, built into CAL packages and pursued in the classroom. Also included are a number of papers on the social context of computer use, in work and beyond. The editors' main concern is with the skills individuals need to gain so as to develop their full potential, but they feel that this can only be properly understood within the context of the groups and society to which the individual belongs. In particular, they encompass the question of whether computers are equally enabling (in terms of individual development) to all groups in society, or whether they merely accentuate patterns of disadvantage that already exist. They believe that the teacher needs not only to consider the classroom situation but should also see how the development of such skills and capacities is distributed within society, and how these capacities might be used or misused in adult life. This collection is designed to help with these tasks