I just read an article in today's (May 31, 2001) New York Times entitled
"PowerPoint Invades the Classroom" by Lisa Guernsey
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/31/technology/31POWE.html
that explains how five-year olds in kindergarten classes are now using
PowerPoint presentations. Boy, imagine what type of orientation to
multimedia these kids will have when we get them in 13 years or so.
Yikes!
Charles Wankel
mg-ed-dv discussion fomenter
wankelc@stjohns.edu
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some quotes from the article:
"The software is not only a teaching aid, used by instructors as a
substitute for a chalkboard. It has become a tool for students to use as
well. Suddenly magic markers and construction paper seem so Old Economy."
"Beware of PowerPointlessness" [I don't really worry about this overly
(problems go across media) but I liked it as a witticism anyhow.]
Sandee Tessier, a kindergarten teacher at San Altos Elementary School in
Lemon Grove, Calif., has been using PowerPoint with her 5- and 6-year-old
students for nearly four years, integrating it into her regular reading and
math lessons.
"People come in and they have tears in their eyes because they can't believe
what these little kids are doing," Ms. Tessier said. "It's part of their
day, like picking up a pencil."
Sometimes, she said, she will take digital photographs of her pupils acting
out scenes from a book, put the photos on slides and ask the pupils to
describe their actions in words. In the process, the children create their
own books.
"I train them how to get into PowerPoint, how to get into their files, over
many months," Ms. Tessier said. "And then they type captions under each
slide. Their spelling isn't that great, but that's O.K."
Ms. Tessier also encourages her pupils to write accounts of their lives and
present them in front of the class.
"It is sensational for oral language development," she said. "They'll say,
`Hi, my name is Julie, and I like to eat pizza.' And there is their picture
on the screen behind them, like on a TV monitor. They are the stars of
PowerPoint."