The purpose of this paper is to present some of the advantages of using computers in the process of teaching and learning on a regular basis.. Let me tell you why I think we need computers in the classrooms. Well, first we need them to improve students’ achievement and to increase students’ motivation. We also need them to make the lessons more interesting. Everybody understands a lesson better if it is interesting. But I do think that the most important benefit of using computers in schools is that the students are more prepared for the outside world.
Computers in the classroom How effective a computer could be to a child’s education? Some years ago, computer was a synonym of luxury. Nowadays, however, computers have become part of our everyday lives. Computers may be useful to teachers and to students. Computers can be useful to students in these ways: make much easier and quicker find something, learning became more interesting and can save paper.
Computer technology benefits schools and their students by varying the lessons taught in the classroom. Computers allow teachers to present lessons to the entire class using projection technology to incorporate graphics such as pictures and video, allowing greater opportunities than those available on the traditional chalk or white boards. Other benefits for students include the use of simulation software allowing students to learn by interacting with the computer software using the variety of media available on the computer. Enrolling in this subject gave me the opportunity to enhance more my skills with regards in using computer. Before, I only learned to encode and directly print a document, but now I already learned to save a document in a file.
There are also other activities were the use of Internet is involved such as educational programs, games, electronic mail, as well Arruda 2 as the use of instant messaging. Besides that, most schools in the U.S are offering Internet access for research. The Internet is an example of great resource of information that children can use to find explanation about any topic, take courses, meet friends, play games and have another kind of educational activities. To understand better how Internet is important, let’s have one situation where one child has to research an important assignment. Where this child would go to find the information he needed?
Educational technology has allowed students to use different ways to access informative information in a much simpler way than previous generations. There are many online tools, such as PowerPoint, that have created an opportunity to improve creativity, improve memory, and lesson obstacles that can impact learning. Computers have provided students with the opportunity to preform research, or other tools that can create a more active learning environment. Not only can students benefit from the productivity tools technology can provide, but teachers can also use online programs to present information in a way that is easier to understand. Teachers can also help each other out by sharing their lesson plans online with other teachers or students who want to look back on a lesson.
COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION Over the past decade computers have become a major focal point on how American students obtain their education. Computers have gone from an idea that people thought of in the past to a necessity for learning in the future. The results have been shown both positive and negative. The use of technology for education has a very positive impact. Computers are making a permanent footprint in education that will never go unchanged.
Admittedly, for children, modern games provide an environment that allows for computer skills enhancement. Through playing electronic games, especially online computer games, enthusiastic young players are rapidly familiar with how to sent instant messages or emails to other players, how to get information about games from the Internet, how to install, update and uninstall the game program, and so forth. However, all of these are limited in the domain of computer. It is widely accepted that playing traditional games contributes to improving young people’s social skills. Traditional children’s games involve human interactions in real world instead of human-machine interactions in virtual world, thus providing opportunities for children to learn ways of effective communication with both languages as well as gestures.
Some people think that playing game on the internet can help children learn team work and develop their both EQ and IQ. For instance, when we are playing , we need to communicate with other players for help. So it makes them feel relaxed and happy. However, I believe playing games in the internet can make children addicted thus they do not concentrate on their study. Furthermore, many workers spent most of their working time to play games instead of working.
They have internet browsers which let students do research instantly in the classroom. Since most schools cannot afford one laptop per student, they should capitalise on the mini-computer that almost every student has in his or her pocket, so that they can save their limited budgets for other more urgent needs. To conclude, if we use a little imagination, we can turn the handphone into a powerful tool for teaching and learning.
Technology can be used to improve teaching and learning and help our students be successful through the better simulations and models. Teachers can explain the concepts that are too big or too small or process that happen too quickly or too slowly in the classroom. Students can also experiment with virtual situations in order to understand the evolution. For example, teachers can use the digital simulations and models to teach the movement of the particles that we cannot see in naked eye so that the students can understand easily. Besides that, technology can be used to improve teaching and learning and help our students be successful through the epistemic games.