Computer Applications

At the simplest level, as intelligent tutors offering Computer Aided Instruction (CAI), computers provide only modest support of program goals for able learners. Instruction is individually paced, different learning styles may be accommodated, and some self-confidence may be gained. However, this use of computers fares poorest in the research. Teachers are still better at traditional stimulus/response instruction.

At a higher level, students are provided opportunities to do research and apply complex thinking skills by working with real problems and computer simulations. Learning becomes fun and more challenging. Some of the best software on the market falls into this category and the results of time spent with computers in this mode are not easily dismissed. Students are taught programming languages that aid them in beginning to turn a computer into a real tool. The LOGO languages and the concepts introduced in Mindstorms (Papert, 1980) and the more advanced Turtle Geometry (Abelson, 1984) provide platforms for students to invent their own syntax, integrate knowledge, and share ideas. All students in gifted and talented programs should be introduced to such computer applications and programming.

Unfortunately, many students never move beyond this level. The new found mastery of the power of the computer is seductive. Every problem presented can be solved. The graphics are spectacular. Non-users are awed and even the teachers are often surpassed; hackers emerge. However, little is to be gained from merely a faster CPU, better resolution, gigabytes of storage, or technology. The real power of the computer is the quality of the questions students ask and attempt to answer.

Asking Better Questions

In November, 1987, Control Data Corporation challenged students across the country to put their best questions forward as part of a contest to promote a new supercomputer. They wanted to know what students were interested in and how they would use a computer to discover, explore, and collaborate. Teachers were asked to spend the next six months building and guiding learning experiences which reinforced and clarified the students' topics. Teams were formed - each student with an independent project - to pool strategies, share learning, and expand alternatives. Time was spent in the library reading professional journals and investigating tangents. At the end of the school year the students with the best developed questions (still no solutions) were invited to spend the summer in Minnesota working with a powerful computer and mentors from Control Data staff. After nearly eight months of investigation, the students reported what they had learned to a panel of scientists who read each paper and spent several hours listening to the students and sharing their own knowledge and experience.

The impact of that program on each of the 1,475 schools which participated nationwide was remarkable. Computers had been used to frame better questions, define important problems, stretch students farther than they or their teachers thought possible. These gifted and talented students combined their individual strengths and needs with a conglomerate of people, resources, and technologies that changed their learning experience. It is important to note that the use of computers, although significant, was not the focus of the program. The students were not studying computer science or applications.