* When should children start using computers?
* How should schools incorporate computer use into their curriculum?
* Which types of computer software programs should be avoided?
* Are children who don’t have computers in class and at home doomed to fall behind their peers?
Few parents and educators stop to consider that computers, used incorrectly, may do far more harm than good to a child’s growing brain and social/emotional development. In this comprehensive and practical guide to kids and computers, Jane M. Healy, Ph.D., author of the groundbreaking bestseller Endangered Minds, examines the advantages and drawbacks of computer use for kids at home and school, exploring its effects on their health, mental development, and creativity.
In addition, this timely and ey-opening book presents:
* Concrete examples of how to develop a technology plan and use computers successfully with children of different age groups as supplements to classroom curricula, as research tools, or in family projects
* Resources for reliable reviews of child-oriented software
* Questions parents should ask when their children are using computers in school
* Advice on how to manage computer use at homeThis important book is a welcome addition to the growing (and long overdue) debate about how much of a good thing it is to mix computers and children.

Healy is a professional educator of wide experience, and a recovering techno-fundamentalist. She is scrupulously fair about the evidence presented in various studies on the ways computers help or hinder learning, and quick to offer positive anecdotes where there are positive ones to be had. (She freely notes, for example, what a miracle computers have been for some handicapped children.) But her conclusions about the routine use of computer technology in the classroom are overwhelmingly–and persuasively–negative.

A major theme of Failure to Connect is the federal government’s culpable idiocy (not her term, but she implies as much) in jumping uncritically, to the tune of $4 billion a year, on the “computer in every classroom” bandwagon. As she shows, there is scant evidence that computers teach basic skills any better than traditional methods, or that children who don’t have computers are somehow “left behind.” Conversely, there is abundant evidence that an uncritical infatuation with computers as an educational panacea is replacing skill building and learning with formless play while forcing art and music lessons, and in some cases math textbooks, off many school budgets.

Healy writes lucidly, neatly balancing her discussion of the issues with practical, undogmatic advice for parents and educators. A sober and sobering read about a crucial issue. –Richard Farr

Product Features

• ISBN13: 9780684855394
• Condition: New
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