Figure 1.-- Only some schools had a few computers in the early 80s, but by the end of the decade they were everywhere. Here one of the school comuter wizes is showing a class mate how to use a new program, although how to use them in the classroom was still being worked out. |
Computers appeared in the classroom during the 1980s. The schools and teachers at first were not quite sure what to do with them. The older teachers in paticular knew nothing about them. One problem was that the computers appeared before very much educational software had been developed and strategies worked out for using them. The children were, however, intreagued with the computers.
In many classes a few of the children knew more about the computers than the teachers. Some boys even knew a little about programming. Of course computer games appealed to the children, but there were also many useful applications for school work. Boys in particular seemed especially interested in the computers. Schools also began opening computer rooms to train the children in word processing and other popular applications. By the end of the decade more and more teachers were getting a handle on the computers and how to effectively use them in the classroom.
