Jesse Sinaiko wrote: > To them I would add, the issue of >dexterity. Remember those huge pencils in first and second grade? Kids >under ten have them for a reason; manual dexterity is not really developed >enough before the age of ten or eleven to use a keyboard efficiently, from >what I am given to understand, much less a teeny, tiny keyboard. > Frankly, I remember that huge pencil that was HEAVY and did not suit my hand. I remember that pencil as a torture device which was more suitable for hitting things than writing things. Have there been any studies about the use of these pencils?
As far as a teeny, tiny keyboard - I think that, since the process of myelinization is complete by the time kids start writing, we may be amazed at how fast they pick up on something that requires a light stylus. One of the problems of dexterity for children is that they are being taught to use adult tools that simply are HEAVY. Myelinization, by the way, is where the myelium sheaths grow over the nerves. The sometimes spastic movements of newborns are attributed to the lack of these sheaths; they serve as insulators and without them nerves fire and muscles react spastically. (Ref: Language Development, an Introduction by Robert E. Owens, Jr, 1984). This develops muscle during this period, and oddly enough creates strength necessary for when myelinization is complete. Too much of the world, I think, is focused on making kids do what we do with the tools we do. We will give children toy hammers that are light, but we give them heavier pencils than we use to communicate. Very strange. > That >pretty much rules out palm-sized devices or laptops with smaller keyboards >for primary school aged kids. > > I disagree, so it's a matter of different opinions. I believe a palmtop that is interactive can be much more effective for teaching children since they don't have to fight with a heavy implement. >The battery issues that are raised are important as well. Discarded >batteries are a hazard. Access to steady voltages is dodgy. Along with >developmental issues there are ecological and infrastructural problems that >need to be addressed on a case-to-case basis. This requires lots of >planning. As many have brought up on this list over and over again, in a >plethora of contexts, just throwing hardware at folks is not a good thing. > > I've seen it first hand throughout the Caribbean. I can only imagine what happens in other areas... but consider when I toss a computer part away here in Trinidad and Tobago, it goes to the dump. Arsenic, and other pollutants are in it. Car batteries typically end up in the same place (though I use them for other things), and so on. Much of this 'computer donation' business can cause long term pollution problems. If you're going to pull the tiger's tail, you better have a plan for the teeth. Of course, if someone else is standing in front of the tiger, some people don't care too awful much about those teeth. -- Taran Rampersad Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.knowprose.com http://www.easylum.net http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/Taran Coming on January 1st, 2006: http://www.OpenDepth.com "Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
