More kids use laptops at early age

Third-grader Kaylee Marshall knows the family computer better than her father – both of them say so. Now, she may outpace him further when she gets regular time on a laptop computer in her class at Finch Elementary School in Spokane.

On what the kids call computer day, an instructor wheels a cart of laptops into Kaylee’s classroom and carefully hands them out for each student to place on their desks. A wireless connection gives them controlled Internet access, but lately they have been working on spelling and writing sentences on their computer screens.

There was a time when students had to line up and march down the hall to a lab if they wanted to use a computer. Now, in growing numbers of schools across the region, laptops are brought to the students. Not only does it free up classroom space formerly used for computer labs, it also means elementary students are learning skills that surprise even their parents sometimes.

“We’re bringing the lab to them,” said Ken Brown, Spokane Public Schools executive director of technology and information services. “Mobility in general is becoming very important.”

In grade school, students learn the basic tools of the computer world, like PowerPoint for presentations, Excel for graphing and charting numbers, and basic word processing. Some schools teach students digital photography and video.

Educators point out that students must use the school computers for educational lessons. They’re not intended to be high-tech toys used for games and Internet surfing. Computer time is tied to specific lesson plans.

“The kids just love computers, but you can’t just stick them on the computers all day,” said Betty Dumas, a longtime elementary school teacher at Finch.

Sometimes students have more ideas what to do with the technology than their teachers.

Kaylee, for instance, who’s also becoming a skilled guitar player, has considered plugging her instrument into a computer to help her compose songs.

“She knows a lot more than I do. I know the off-and-on switch and that’s about it,” said Kaylee’s dad, Eric Marshall, 39, a lot manager for a Spokane Valley car dealership. “I think it’s awesome. I wish we were introduced to computers earlier.”

So far, Spokane Public Schools has used funds from a $165 million bond approved in 2003 to buy close to 1,300 laptops, at a cost of about $1,100 each.

Not too long ago, there were barely any laptops in the district, Brown said. Eventually, almost half of the district computers used in the classroom will be laptops, he said.

The three replacement elementary schools being constructed in Spokane Public Schools – Ridgeview, Lidgerwood and Lincoln Heights – don’t even include computer labs in their designs because they’ll have mobile labs, Brown said.

In the West Valley School District, students in Centennial Middle School and West Valley High School have access to 150 laptop computers with wireless Internet connections. Each school has six carts, with 25 laptops each.

“Our former superintendent decided that the only way that we can infuse technology into the classroom and really use it was to get it into the hands of the students as fast as we could,” said Fred Traher, director of technology for West Valley.

“We recognize technology is not a cure-all, but it’s definitely a great tool to support teachers in the classroom,” he said.

The laptops at West Valley are an element of the district’s “Smart School” program, introduced in 2001 to promote technology as a tool to improve student learning.

As is the nature of technology, each change seems to invite the next advance.

Now that more teachers and students are using laptops hooked to a wireless network, teachers can tap a rich library of two-minute video clips for their lessons, Brown said. If they’re doing a section on the planets, teachers can display a short video clip demonstrating planet size or orbit characteristics.

In Mead School District, a mobile computer lab cart also includes two video cameras, four digital cameras, one electronic keyboard to compose music, a scanner and a printer, said Dan Butler, Mead’s executive director of technology services.

Butler chuckles at the verve he sees in students as they tackle projects like writing and producing their own video productions.

“They hardly look up when I walk into a classroom,” he said. What’s new this year at Mead is the capability to create and store an electronic portfolio to archive a student’s work from kindergarten to graduation, Butler said. In the past, that kind of storage just wasn’t feasible.

Third-graders at Mead this fall will also receive keyboarding lessons on $75 keyboards with built-in screens. By using these machines, laptops are freed up for other students for more advanced lessons. By the time they hit fourth grade, students likely will be proficient typists.

“Starting keyboarding in high school is too late,” Butler said.

Ingrid Miller, a Spokane Public Schools third-grade teacher at Finch, said as a teacher she’s still learning to use technology in the classroom. But she does see student enthusiasm and respect for the tools.

“They’re actually pretty savvy by third grade,” Miller said.