In both schools and homes, information and communication technologies (ICT) are widely seen as enhancing learning, this hope fuelling their rapid diffusion and adoption throughout developed societies. But they are not yet so embedded in the social practices of everyday life as to be taken for granted, with schools proving slower to change their…

This essay discusses the human, social, and political problems associated with the introduction of new information technologies and computer education into existing schools and indicates 10 choices which face educational policy-makers. Teacher training, availability of software, necessary hardware, the role of higher education, and national policy…

This paper explores common misconceptions about technological literacy and technology education, proposes a model for technological literacy, and considers the implications of technology-induced changes for education. The model consists of three key dimensions that define technological literacy and guide programming for it: (1) technology's…

Draws on empirical evidence from an evaluation of computer use in Canadian high schools to show how a critical treatment of computer literacy as ideology raises important issues about the computerization of education. Suggests that educators should question whether they have given this ideology the critical attention it deserves. (DSK)

The symbolic function of curricular debate, as it is manifested in the minimum competency testing movement (MCT), is investigated. Curricular debate necessarily reflects the demands of the society in which it arises. The topics that are addressed spring from this milieu and the language in which issues are couched must be appropriate to it.…

Describes Project Comptown, an Israeli research-oriented educational intervention designed to create a computer culture in the schools and to use the computer's potential for innovative teaching and learning in both the schools and the community. Highlights include implementation analysis and teacher involvement and training. (31 references)…

Arguing that computers in education are necessary to prepare children to live in a future computerized society, this report examines the issues associated with computers in education in developing countries. The first of three parts provides a brief overview of how and why computers are used in education in developed countries; describes…

Based upon testimony before the National Governor's Association Task Force on Technology, this article identifies important considerations that state education agencies should take into account in developing educational technology plans and strategies. Policy recommendations are given, including the creation of interstate consortia for software…

Discusses several barriers to the use of technology, especially computers, including the state of the art of computer software, lack of teacher knowledge and skills in this area, and most important, the present governing structure that supports the traditional organization of education. (MBR)

The introduction of informatics into the national school curriculum in Japan requires changes to educational policy, curricula, methods, facilities, etc. Although the basic functions of the school--i.e., to transmit the culture and to cultivate competencies that will allow a future society to develop--remain unchanged, new technologies change the…

Computers are changing the lives of millions of people, but schools are still not producing many computer literate students. Rapid improvements in hardware technology and major progress in the development of software have put computers within reach of everyone. Computer literacy must now be treated as a functional tool similar to reading, writing,…

Microcomputers are already in a majority of American schools, but little is known about their integration into the school curriculum. This study examines the features of an elementary school--Skyline School in the South San Francisco Unified School District (California)--that have contributed to the successful integration of computers in its…

This discussion identifies assumptions about the effects of computer learning activities upon students, and argues that more research is needed to justify the ongoing implementation of computer activities in education. Highlights include computer literacy, teacher training, and inequalities in socioeconomic groups and gender. Twenty-three…

This report evaluates two arguments for the use of computers as an important tool in learning: (1) there is a need to develop the kinds of skills and knowledge that will allow youth to find good jobs in a changing, information-based national and international setting; and (2) computers are capable of improving the overall level of student…

In anticipation of the educational needs of the late 1980s in science, mathematics, and engineering education, the National Science Foundation has supported a variety of projects that can serve as examples and models of the uses of computing in science education. These projects fall into three categories, focusing on the computer as a tool of…