This book explores the meaning of computer technology in schools. The book is based on data gathered from a two-year observation of more than 30 different classrooms in an urban high school: geometry classes in which students used artificially intelligent tutors; business classes in which students learned word processing; and computer science classes in which students learned programming. In addition, two dozen teachers and 250 students were interviewed. This book is for all those concerned with the changing shape of the classroom and the future of schools as well as for sociologists and psychologists interested in educational computing. The book is divided into seven chapters: (1) Introduction; (2) The GPTutor: Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom; (3) Computer Science 1: The Classroom and the Lab as Contrasting Learning Environments; (4) Computers in the Closet: Attitudinal and Organizational Barriers to Computer Use in Classrooms; (5) The Computer Room for Gifted Students: A (Bright, White Boys') Lunch Club; (6) Girls and Computer Science: Fitting In, Fighting Back, and Fleeing; and (7) Computers, Classrooms, and Change. A discussion of study methodology is appended. Author and subject indexes are provided. (Contains 251 references.) (SWC)