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Computer Program for Children
By Benjamin
The idea made the best sort of policy
pitch: at once flashy and simple.
Stick a free computer, wired to the Internet, in every day-
care center in Pennsylvania, and let children, rich and poor,
start handling technology as soon as they are introduced to
blocks and pencils.
But three years after the CyberStart program of former Gov.
Tom Ridge's administration hit preschools and in-home day
care across the commonwealth, some educators and others still
have questions about the program's training provisions and
whether the program is appropriate for 3-year-olds.
It is a crucial moment for CyberStart, which has a new federal
grant and is looking to triple the number of participating
day-care centers to 3,000 by September, as a technology-hungry
nation looks on to see whether programs for children this
young can work.
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In many cases, some say, day- care providers
have not had the training they need to be able to work with
their small charges. And, on a more basic level, they wonder:
Should 3-year-olds be sitting in front of computers instead
of painting and playing with their pals?
The Pennsylvania program is in the vanguard nationally. Computers
for 3-year-olds are an educational idea that is catching on
fast, experts say. But CyberStart is still the most comprehensive
program in the country -- any licensed day- care center serving
seven or more children can get a computer from the state --
which means it will be watched closely. |
"For a program
like this to be successful, you absolutely need extensive
training, ongoing professional development and a way for
educators to bounce ideas off of one another," said
Lisa Bouillion, an assistant professor of education at
the University of Pennsylvania.
CyberStart promises 12 hours of training -- spent, for
most people, watching videotaped lectures -- with no provisions
for continued training. Most teachers complete only the
first six- hour session by the time the computers arrive,
and experts are saying more training is needed.
"That's ridiculous. That's not nearly enough,"
says Dara Feldman of the National Association for the
Education of Young Children.
Says Bouillion: "You're not going to be able to sit
down and learn something in a few hours and then go away
and do something meaningful. If there's insufficient training,
you could end up with ill-structured, unsupervised use
of technology. It's not going to make the kids any dumber,
but it could be a waste of resources and a wasted opportunity."
The program's administrators say that, for the moment,
they are satisfied with CyberStart's provisions for training.
But the program, they say, is still developing. |
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"I think we've made some very
good progress, and I think we're going to have to continue to
look at those issues -- whether the training's been adequate
and how to help drive new development in content and curriculum,"
said Matt Tunnell, the deputy executive secretary of the Department
of Community and Economic Development, which runs CyberStart.
CyberStart has been dogged by problems from the start. For its
first two years, some day-care providers who had signed on complained
that the computers did not work and that, when they did, they
had not been given enough training to use them. Often, day-care
providers said, they knew less than the children.
Tunnell calls the program a terrific bargain, and by governmental
standards it may well be. This year, even as the state is providing
free Internet access, computers and support to 2,000 new and
1,000 existing customers, CyberStart (with a full-time payroll
of two) has a budget of $9.8 million, $8.4 million of which
is paid for by a federal grant.
But some state legislators, who call CyberStart educationally
dubious, think that money might be better spent.
"I don't think it's developmentally appropriate to be paying
to put 3-year-old kids in front of screens. I'd rather have
them working with paint or clay, interacting with one another.
Some of the experts agree with me," said state Sen. Mary
Jo White, R-Venango, who has opposed the program since its introduction.
"The money could be better spent opening day care to everyone."
But experts today say most research shows that putting computers
in classrooms for 3-year- olds can be valuable.
"There's a tendency to underestimate what young kids can
do and to over-constrain their environment," said Kenneth
Tobin, education professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
"Even very young kids can figure out what to do and use
computers as tools, and when they get through, the results can
be fairly astonishing." |
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