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Thirty years ago, digital computers were large, complex machines expensive enough to be owned only by businesses, universities, and agencies of government. Today computers are small, complex machines cheap enough to be owned by children. It is almost taken for granted in America that children who do not have ready access to computers at home are at a terrible educational disadvantage. Hardware and software manufacturers have found, to their delight, that parents who would never buy computers and software for themselves can be persuaded to buy them for their children. In many households, the family computer monitor has become (along with video games and network television) the third in the unholy trinity of screens that dominate the family’s
recreational life. As the adults in the family become more and more attached to their computers, disappearing into individual laptops can become what the family typically does “together.” There is no doubt that the personal computer, when used wisely and with attention to the child’s true developmental needs, can be a powerful adjunct to classroom learning. However, because so many parents are themselves new to the computer or new to Montessori education, it is difficult to sort out what “wise use” means in concrete situations — all the more so because of the confusing messages circulating in the culture and its media.
Perhaps the most important thing that Montessori educators can say to today’s parents is “Relax. Your child will not be intellectually stunted because they do not have access to a home computer.
Virtually nothing a well-rounded child needs to know requires the use of a computer to learn it.” In truth, with the possible exception of certain mathematical and engineering ideas related directly to the design and programming of computers themselves (hardly the focus of most software marketed to children), the introduction of the digital computer has changed almost nothing in the fundamental intellectual landscape of childhood. This is largely because the child’s most important intellectual tasks are determined not by fads or the advent of new technologies, but by the unfolding of the human organism according to a genetically coded plan conditioned by the entire span of human evolution. It was the genius of Maria Montessori that she was able to map out much of this process
of human development and begin to understand how educators might support it in a systematic and universal way. When we understand the true needs of the developing child, much of the hype about how indispensable computers are to children quickly evaporates. Many of us already have computers at home, and we will have noticed that our children seem to be fascinated by them. How can we use the computer in the best interest of our child’s learning and development? Here are four questions that may help.
Is my child at least 7 years old, reading fluently, and writing effortlessly in cursive?
If not, the child is simply not ready to use the computer — or, more accurately, the computer is not designed to support your child’s development. Children below age 7 learn in ways very different from those of adults and older children. Young children learn primarily through physical movement and by using all their senses to explore the physical environment. Computers restrict both these modes of learning. Young children also tend to uncritically absorb whatever is presented to them a disturbing thought, considering many of the sounds and images that flow through the multimedia screens of our home computers.
Does this software support my (older) child’s current developmental needs? Are there better ways to meet those needs?
Most software marketed to children can be divided into two categories: games and “educational software.” Some educational software is packaged in a game-like format, ostensibly to make it more interesting to the child. The question to ask about games (computerized and non-computerized) without educational content is “Could my child be having the same kind of relaxation and fun doing an activity that is not a developmental waste of time?” With a little thought and creativity, we can almost always answer “yes.” Educational games and other educational software need to be carefully reviewed, case-bycase. The educational benefits of the software need to be balanced against the potential side-effects, such as
• social isolation,
• missed opportunities for collaborative learning,
• missed opportunities for neurological development that comes from activities based on
intensive use of the hands, body and creative thinking,
• development of sedentary habits (contributing to the current epidemic of obesity in
children),
• presentation of material in ways that conflict with the Montessori child’s classroom
experiences,
• substitution of extrinsic rewards for the intrinsic joy of learning
Content Prepared by: Pratheek
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