Computers and Classroom Culture

by Janet Ward Schofield

• ISBN13: 9780521473682
• ISBN10: 0521473683
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-05-20
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

As important as it is to realize the potential of computer technology to improve education, it is just as important to understand how the social organization of schools and classrooms influences the use of computers, and in turn is affected by that technology in unanticipated ways. In Computers and Classroom Culture, Janet Schofield observes the fascinating dynamics of the computer-age classroom. Among her many discoveries, Schofield describes how the use of an artificially-intelligent tutor in a geometry class unexpectedly changes aspects such as the level of peer competition and the teacher's grading practices. She also discusses why many teachers fail to make significant instructional use of computers and how gender appears to have a crucial impact on students' reactions to computer use. All educators, sociologists, and psychologists concerned with educational computing and the changing shape of the classroom will find themselves compellingly engaged.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. The GP tutor: artificial-intelligence in the classroom

3. A tale of two settings: the computer science classroom and the lab

4. Computers in the closet: attitudinal and organizational barriers to computer use in the classroom

5. The gifted computer lab: a (bright, white boys) lunch club

6. Computer science II: basically for boys

7. Conclusions.