ED445803 PS028894
Title: Fool's Gold: A Critical Look at Computers in Childhood.
Author(s): Cordes, Colleen, Ed.; Miller, Edward, Ed.
Author Affiliation: Alliance for Childhood, College Park,
MD.(BBB36238)
Pages: 105
Publication Date: 2000
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC05 Plus Postage.
Availability: Alliance for Childhood, P.O. Box 444, College Park, MD
20741; Tel: 301-513-1777; Fax: 301-513-1777; e-mail:
info@allianceforchildhood.net; Web Site: http://
www.allianceforchildhood.net ($8.50).
Language: English
Document Type: Information Analysis (070); Opinion papers (120)
Geographic Source: U.S.; Maryland
Journal Announcement: RIEMAR2001
Noting that computers are reshaping children's lives in profound and
unexpected ways, this report examines potential harms and promised
benefits of these changes, focusing on early childhood and elementary
education. Chapter 1 argues that popular attempts to hurry children
intellectually are at odds with the natural pace of human development.
Chapter 2 presents information on the risks of using computers to
children's physical health (including musculoskeletal injuries, vision
problems, and obesity), emotional and social development (isolation,
shifts toward computer-centered education, detachment from community,
and the commercialization of childhood), creativity and intellectual
development (impaired language and literacy, poor concentration,
inability to tolerate frustration, plagiarism, and distraction from
meaning), and moral development. Chapter 3 urges families and schools
to recommit themselves to providing young children with the essentials
of a healthy childhood, including strong bonds with caring adults,
hands-on experiences with the physical world, time for unstructured
play, exposure to the arts, and literacy activities. Chapter 4
discusses ways parents and teachers can help children achieve a
technology literacy that also involves the capacity to think
critically and use technology to serve personal, social, and
ecological goals. Chapter 5 focuses on the costs of technology and
argues that the national infatuation with computers in early childhood
and elementary education is diverting scarce resources from children's
real unmet needs. Chapter 6 concludes with recommendations, including
a refocus on the essentials of a healthy childhood and an immediate
moratorium on further introduction of computers in early childhood and
elementary education. Each chapter contains reference notes. (KB)
Descriptors: At Risk Persons; Brain; Child Health; *Childhood Needs;
*Children; Cognitive Development; *Computer Uses in Education;
*Computers; Creativity; Early Childhood Education; *Early
Experience; *Educational Technology; Elementary Education;
Emotional Development; Moral Development; Play; Social Development
Identifiers: Brain Development
