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On 11/11/11 16:02, James Kilty wrote: > On 11/11/11 15:35, Tony Sumner wrote: > >> The school, which enrols children of parents from Google, Apple, >> Yahoo, ebay, and Hewlett-Packard, is the Waldorf School of the >> Peninsula, one of around 160 Waldorf schools in the country that >> subscribe to a teaching philosophy focused on physical activity and >> learning through creative, hands-on tasks. Those who endorse this >> approach say computers inhibit creative thinking, movement, human >> interaction, and attention spans.... The schoolâs chief teaching tools >> are anything but high-tech: pens and paper, knitting needles and, >> occasionally, mud. Not a computer to be found. No screens at all. They >> are not allowed in the classroom, and the school even frowns on their >> use at home. > Thank you Tony. I love this. My daughter, who is creative, uses a > computer at home for social connections and research for her A-level > Chemistry and Biology. She hates IT as it has been taught. Some > students use them to use machines that cut to a plan. Otherwise, I > suspect that it is the model of education as preparation for work > rather than life that drives the use of computers plus the illusion > that more and better technology shows a school as more modern and up > to date and therefore better. > > It is essential to research University courses and to apply to > University via UCAS however. This is all computerized. > > James I agree computers can harm creativity, however as people here have said they should be seen as tools to help get jobs done, computers should be fun, I find if I want to do task x then having a goal is good, it means I can learn what I need in order to get that job done. I have never used powerpoint, I have used openoffice impress (well a little), that does not mean to say I can't create a presentation, and yes I mean presentation rather than saying powerpoint, is there not research out there that says some of these presentations with their sounds, clips, animations are a distraction, and actually in using them you are reducing the effectiveness of the presentation. Rather ironic if you have just watched a presentation on being more productive. You can get a good message across and create nice presentations with LaTeX and beamer, at the end of the day if the message gets across then who cares what you use, even if you do use OHP and printed slides. I don't think its the tool that is the problem is how you use it. It seems to me these schools refered to in the USA want to get back to basics, teach how to communicate verbally and how to co-operate, work as a team once you learn those basic blocks then other aspects of education can fall in to place, if you use computers later, teach a child how to think and problem solve and they will be able to learn computers or anything much easier. Paul -- -- http://www.zleap.net Join the revolution, switch to Ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq