While reading Clifford Stoll's interview comments, I found myself agreeing on one comment but then disagreeing on the next. His opening argument stating that students need peer / teacher interaction is correct. I believe this to be true at the middle school level where I teach. Students need to build communication / working together skills with eachother; as well as interact with teachers when those teachers may be one of the few positive adult role models these students have to look up to. In my school however, I do not see computers taking over this important function. Even with dealing in our one computer per classroon set-up (not including labs) I am still wanting the students to use what resources we have and get more exposure than they currently do. I think what Stoll meant when he referred to instant gratification was the ease searching with Google or Yahoo allows research to come right to you. I hope students will still learn good research techniques with hard copy resources in the library, and also be taught to use good search practices on the internet. Just this week I had my students create their own Escher Diagrams (pictures created with interlocking geometric tiles). Some students did them by hand (art ability not counted in the grade!) while a few used MS Paint and showed they really understood the creation process as they made beautiful pictures. Having students leave high school wth basic word processing, spreadsheet, database and presentation skils is imperative; but being able to enhance their learning with some technology integration can provide an equally important learning experience. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard ------------------------------------------------------------ Class website: http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/taylor/suny/ ------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from this listserv, go to: //www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/list?list_id=edi581 If you have any problems, send an e-mail to: JerryTaylr@xxxxxxx ------------------------------------------------------------