Internet filtering as a form of soft censorship

Internet filtering as a form of soft censorship
TAGS:censorship, Craig Cunningham, National-Louis University, politics, Second Life, web filtering
IT TOPICS:Government & Regulation, Internet, Security, Security Hardware & Software
The Internet is a powerful tool for education. But teachers are often unable to use it effectively because of clumsy Web filtering tools installed in schools, says Professor Craig Cunningham, of National-Louis University.
Schools routinely install Internet filtering software, designed to protect students from porn, hate speech, and other inappropriate content, as well as shield the children from sexual predators, and from wasting time on social media sites when they should be learning, Cunningham said.
But the filters are put in place without adequate forethought, blocking sites that should be accessible, and vice-versa. Schools don't take an active role in deciding which sites should be blocked, abdicating that responsibility to the private, for-profit vendors who sell the products. The result is that students are deprived of education, Cunningham said.
Cunnningham gave a presentation in Second Life, part of a Smarter Technology series of educational talks. (Disclaimer: I have a personal connection with the subject matter and hosts of this talk. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for details.)
Instead of simply blocking sites, students should be permitted, or even encouraged, to access objectionable material, under teacher supervision, to help them learn, Cunningham said. The sites that are edgiest are the most likely to be most educational.
"It comes down to education versus prohibition. Do you prohibit students from accessing materials, or do you educate them by letting them access the materials?" he said. "True learning occurs at the margins, true learning occurs at the situations where people encounter materials with which they're unfamiliar, and don't understand, and have misconceptions about."
Schools put filtering software in place as part of the requirement of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), a U.S. law passed in 2001 covering public schools and libraries. The law requires filtering to protect children against "inappropriate" and "harmful materials" on the Internet, as well as protecting students' "safety and security" when using e-mail, chatrooms and "other forms of direct electronic communications." Because of First Amendment restrictions, the law gives U.S. government no oversight authority over the nature of the filters.
In theory, that leaves the rules up to state and local government and the teachers. In practice, local authorities generally install Web filtering from private vendors, who make the decisions what to filter on their own, often keeping the lists of censored sites secret.
Despite the abuse, Cunningham said filtering is necessary. "I'm not arguing that all filtering is bad. But when filtering reaches the point that teachers and students are prevented from accessing materials that in their mind has educational value, that's more like censoring than filtering," Cunningham said. Filtering should be limited to pornography, which is the only thing the law requires.
The U.S. is not alone enacting Internet filtering. In Cuba, if a computer user at a government-controlled Internet cafe types certain words, the word processor or browser is automatically closed and the user gets a state-security warning.
By comparison, in Chicago, if a student or school employee accesses an inappropriate site, a siren sounds, similar to a warning of a natural disaster. The noise is audible to everyone around, and it continues until the site is shut down. Students can disable the siren. A administrator gets an e-mail when inappropriate site access occurs. Inappropriate sites include porn, as well as social networking sites such as MySpace or YouTube.
Filters use a variety of techniques. Some block all sites except those on a whitelist. Others only block sites on a blacklist. Some block sites with banned words, phrases, or even images -- algorithms recognize when a photo is mostly skin. Other filters block some words or phrases from being typed by users, although that's rare. Most companies use a variety of these techniques.
Some filters block all newsgroups, social networking, sites, and some search engines. Some filters block translation sites, because those might be used to access inappropriate contact in foreign languages, Cunningham said.
Some schools give teachers a password to override filters for 30 minutes, which Cunningham said is a great idea. "There are a lot of districts that don't do that, though. In Chicago, nobody has that authority. You have to submit a form to the central district and wait three or four weeks to get a response."
Web filtering denies students equal access to education. "The U.S. has areas like Chicago that are relatively liberal and diverse and tolerant of ideas (although the schools are not like that), and then you have small-town Kansas where everyone is white, everyone is a Republican, everyone is a Christian, and that kid is going to be raised in an environment where he has no access to alternative points of view on homosexuality and religion. So you're denying that kid an education -- you're literally doing that," Cunningham said.
Web filtering also leads to inequities in education based on household income. Students from more affluent areas have access to Internet at home and, often, more enlightened parents who can let them access information blocked in schools and libraries. Poorer students without home access don't have those opportunities, Cunningham said.
Children need to be educated to face the challenges of the 21st Century, not protected from inappropriate content, Cunningham said.

http://www.ioba.org/newsletter/archive/v12/IOBANL-LibraryFilters-Don-8-03.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2Z48UcTdQo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuaJcjxBK3U&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQENsGttNk8&feature=related
ARWA ALSADOON

Are Computers Developmentally Appropriate?
Most experts believe computers are not developmentally appropriate for children under the age of three (Elkind, 1998; Haugland, 1999; NAEYC, 1996). However, these same experts believe children three years old and older can begin to effectively explore and use computers. Surely, many of the factors that make computers developmentally inappropriate for children under age three are also present in older children: active learners busily manipulating a wide variety of objects…and in the process of learning about themselves and their environment” (Haugland, 1999, p. 26).

To evaluate whether computers are developmentally appropriate for children over age three, we need to determine the developmental needs of these children. Children this age are developmentally within Piaget’s preoperational stage. This means they are concrete learners who are very interested in using newly learned symbolic representation - speaking, writing, drawing (including maps and geometric figures) and using numbers. Further, children this age are extremely active and mobile. They often have difficulty sitting still; they need frequent changes in learning modalities; and they want a variety of physical experiences involving dance, physical play, climbing and sports. Preoperational children are also are continuing their mastery of language, and exploring various facets of social behavior.

Howard Gardner has shown that young children exhibit a diversity of learning styles, and that the optimum way for many children to learn is not the traditional teacher-directed, verbal approach (Gardner, 1987). We must be sensitive to these different learning approaches, especially as we serve an ever larger diversity of children.

Clearly many of these developmental needs match up well with appropriate use of technology in the classroom, especially exploration, manipulation of symbolic representation, matching alternative learning styles, and quickly changing learning modalities that individual students can control and pace to meet their individual needs. It is also a very powerful tool for students with specific learning disabilities.

The danger, however, is that computers will be used only to reinforce the national trend toward earlier and more academic skill acquisition, and that other important developmental needs will be ignored. Further, there is a danger that developmental needs not met through technology will be ignored or radically compromised: physical play, outdoor exploration of the community and of nature; art, music and dance; learning specific social skills and moral values, and experiencing diversity in a myriad of ways. Some also believe the easy access of information through computers will prevent our children from developing the persistence, ingenuity, tenacity, social adeptness and hard work needed to survive in the world (D. Wardle, nd). These are all realistic fears, based on the pressure of politicians and most parents, and the ever-present reality of very limited resources in most early childhood programs and elementary schools. And, finally, there is the reality that, all too often, computers are used in ways that are simply developmentally inappropriate - most often used for drill and practice purposes (Haugland, 1999). So, how can we implement computers into the curriculum in a positive way?

Integrating Technology Into the Overall Curriculum
Use of technology in the early childhood program must not be a goal unto itself: the purpose is not to teach children how to use computers; they can do this as they get older, just as they can learn to drive a car later in their lives (Wardle, 1999). Appropriate use of technology in the classroom is to expand, enrich, implement, individualize, differentiate, and extend the overall curriculum. And, obviously, curricula goals change with age, and differ from program to program. If a goal of the literacy curricula for a certain age child is to learn to write personal journals, then the computer can naturally support that through writing software, digital cameras, and other methods. A science goal that requires learning the habitat of different zoo animals can be augmented by using specific CD ROMS and accessing zoo web sites. Similarly, studying extinct and endangered animals becomes more real and educational through the use of specific software and websites.

If computers are not fully integrated into the overall curriculum, they can actually negatively impact children’s creativity (Haugland, 1982). To integrate computers effectively, these steps must occur:

1.       Create a support team that includes people knowledgeable of technology, and people who understand developmentally appropriate practice;

2.       Select developmentally appropriate software;

3.       Select developmentally appropriate web sites;

4.       Select computers that can run the software selected, and that can be easily upgraded

5.       Provide adequate and periodic staff training, both on the use of computers, and on ways of integrating the computers into the curriculum:

6.       Integrate computer resources in the classroom.

Computers in the Classroom             
“In developmentally appropriate settings children make many choices regarding when and how long they use learning resources. Computers should be no different (Haugland, 2000, p. 17). Preschool and kindergarten children should first be introduced to computers one at a time, or in small groups. Every child should have an opportunity to experience ample hands-on opportunity to explore 4-5 different software programs. Once each child has had this hands-on experience, the computer center becomes one of many equally important learning centers. It should have several chairs close by, to encourage children to work together, and to encourage the more advanced students to act as peer tutors. This also develops cooperative learning activities. Teachers and other adults should resist interfering or helping the children. The maximum number allowed for the center should be determined, and a waiting list established. Children should place their name - or name tag if they can’t write - on the list.

This approach cannot be implemented with only one computer in the classroom. Haugland suggests a ratio of one computer to seven students, the best situation being one to five. If there are not enough computers to go around, it’s better to have two or three in one classroom for a month or two, and then move them into another classroom, than to have one in each classroom all the time (Haugland, 1999).

Results. Of the participating children, 53% had a computer at home. Among families who had a computer, 83% had children’s software on the computer. According to parents’ reports, 29% of these children played on the home computer on a daily basis, and an additional 44% of the children played on the computer at least weekly. Of those families who did not have a home computer, 49% reported that their children had access to a computer somewhere outside home. Among these children, 10% had daily access to the computer and 33% had weekly access. The presence of a computer in the home was significantly associated with the family’s income and the educational attainment of the parents. There was no gender difference in computer accessibility and frequency use among the participating children. Children who had access to a computer performed better on measures of school readiness and cognitive development, controlling for children’s developmental stage and family socioeconomic status. The data in the current study did not suggest a relationship between computer experience and visual motor or gross motor skills among the participating children.

 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS8IsLqJ22o&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhoOG5Kf1w4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsKjoOu9a5g&feature=related
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Issues_in_Digital_Technology_in_Education/Computers_in_the_Early_Childhood_Classroom
 AISHA ALAHMARY 

We are always looking for the magic bullet, something that will solve all our problems.
 And, today this magic bullet for education is technology. It will solve all our problems!
 It will increase academic skills, reduce dropout rates, eliminate the racial divide in academic
performance, and increase SAT scores. And it will make the lives of teachers easier.
 Well, it may not accomplish all of these goals, but educational technology does have a place in early childhood
 Of course that the children when they receive education through technology,
 they are really enjoying i think Technology will won’t replace teachers. But, those teachers that use technology
 in their classrooms will replace those teachers that don’t

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKEKfQpmhJI

In this video
 you can find some information on some education programs used in kindergartens, I apologize for the length
 of the video, but really useful!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jENEVn1DR4w&feature=related

In this video you can
 see the importance of technology in our lives and how much is important for our children and their
 education, they increase their production and give them better skills in all areas of life,
children learn while they play!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnh9q_cQcUE&feature=related

Here you can see the
 change, who is an event for education in the current era, technology is no longer just for fun
!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWcp8smECj8&feature=related
 Finally, in this
 video we see the attention of teachers for excellence in technology and how to use them in
 the education of children It really works! :D I hope that all kindergarten with all the
 necessary equipment for the education of children with a sophisticated

 Thank you !

lamia alsanat

Education technology in early childhood by games

Education technology in early childhood by games

Playing games is an important part of our social and mental development. This research was initiated to identify the game type most suitable to our teaching environment and to identify game elements that students found interesting or useful within the different game types. A group of twenty students played four commercial games (SimIsle, Red Alert, Zork Nemesis and Duke Nukem 3D). Results suggest that students prefer 3D-adventure (Zork Nemesis) and strategy (Red Alert) games to the other types (“shoot-em-up”, simulation) with Zork Nemesis ranked as the best. Students rated game elements such as logic, memory, visualisation and problem solving as the most important game elements. Such elements are integral to adventure games and are also required during the learning process. We present a model that links pedagogical issues with game elements. The game space contains a number of components, each encapsulates specific abstract or concrete interfaces. Understanding the relationship between educational needs and game elements will allow us to develop educational games that include visualisation and problem solving skills. Such tools could provide sufficient stimulation to engage learners in knowledge discovery, while at the same time developing new skills

http://www.myplaycity.com/
2AodgGrqOwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLZU8K245M4

.Eman Asiry

Education technology in early childhood

COMPUTERS IN THE CLASSROOM

Studies show that when computers are located in the classroom,

children’s developmental gains from using appropriate software

are significantly greater than when they are in a computer lab

(Davis & Shade, 1999). Reasons cited include:

_ Limited exposure to computers when they are placed in labs

_ The tendency to use drill-and-practice software in labs, while

more tool-oriented software is used in classrooms

_ Less collaboration and peer tutoring in lab settings

Other studies offer additional support for locating computers in the classroom:

OTHER TYPES OF TECHNOLOGIES

In addition to computers, many other types of technologies can

be used effectively with children. The setting, the purpose, and

the developmental stages of the children will help decide the best

choices for a particular situation. The technology available and

commonly used in the community may also influence the choice.

Tape recorders support early literacy experiences. They allow

children to listen to recorded stories or songs, or to follow along

in a book as they hear it being read on tape. Children can record

family stories, their own made-up stories, poems, and songs, or

themselves reading aloud. When adults write down children’s

stories—from children’s dictated words or from the tape

recorder—children see how the spoken word can turn into the

written word. These activities integrate all aspects of literacy:

speaking, listening, reading, and writing. They help children

develop their storytelling ability and an understanding of how

sound translates to print.

Integrating Technology Into the Overall Curriculum

Use of technology in the early childhood program must not be a goal unto itself: the purpose is not to teach children how to use computers; they can do this as they get older, just as they can learn to drive a car later in their lives (Wardle, 1999). Appropriate use of technology in the classroom is to expand, enrich, implement, individualize, differentiate, and extend the overall curriculum. And, obviously, curricula goals change with age, and differ from program to program. If a goal of the literacy curricula for a certain age child is to learn to write personal journals, then the computer can naturally support that through writing software, digital cameras, and other methods. A science goal that requires learning the habitat of different zoo animals can be augmented by using specific CD ROMS and accessing zoo web sites. Similarly, studying extinct and endangered animals becomes more real and educational through the use of specific software and websites.

If computers are not fully integrated into the overall curriculum, they can actually negatively impact children’s creativity (Haugland, 1982). To integrate computers effectively, these steps must occur:

1.       Create a support team that includes people knowledgeable of technology, and people who understand developmentally appropriate practice;

2.       Select developmentally appropriate software;

3.       Select developmentally appropriate web sites;

4.       Select computers that can run the software selected, and that can be easily upgraded

5.       Provide adequate and periodic staff training, both on the use of computers, and on ways of integrating the computers into the curriculum:

6.       Integrate computer resources in the classroom

Dos and Don’ts of Using Computers in Early Childhood Programs

• Provide a computer center as one of many equally valued learning centers in the classroom. Allow use, access, and choices as you would any other center.

• Do not use time on the computers as a reward for other activities, behaviors, and task completion. Do not only allow the ‘well behaving’ children to access the computers.

• Allow children lots of time to explore how to use a computer: what can/cannot occur, and simple exploration of the medium.

• Do not sacrifice resources for important basics such as art materials, blocks, books, play dough, puzzles, water tables, outdoor playground equipment, to purchase and maintain computers.

• Do not use computer labs. Public schools seem to love computer labs, but, by definition, it is simply impossible to integrate the ongoing classroom curricula if computers are isolated in a lab, where children must attend at a specific time during the day.

• Don’t use computers for drill and skill activities. This is one of the biggest misuses of computers with young children (NAEYC, 1996).

·         Use a screening devise when using the Internet. Kid Desk, Internet Safe, Net Nanny, and Cyber Patrol are some available ones

·         Make sure needed training and support for computers in the program does not detract from other needed training and support, such as working with children with special need, literacy instruction, conflict resolution, etc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWxnEftWX9I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWjHb5evYKA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U05WeXPGlk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP5mOAQVQQk&feature=related

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http://www.netc.org/earlyconnections/byrequest.pdf
.........

NADA  AL DAEJ

Using Technology in the Early Childhood Classroom

هذا رابط الصوره http://www5.0zz0.com/2010/11/27/13/694893102.jpg
 Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.

By Kimberly Moore Kneas, Ph.D. and

Early Childhood Today: Are young children's brains (ages three through six) well suited to the use of technology? (We define technology as children using cameras, computers, tape recorders and video cameras in classroom projects.) If so, how? Are some forms of technology better than others for these specific age levels?
Dr. Perry: In order to answer that question we must consider some of the genetic biases of the human brain. For 99 percent of the time we have been on the planet, we lived in small hunter-gatherer groups of about 40 to 50 people. Our brains developed specialized capabilities for social affiliation, communication and various kinds of symbolic representation. Our cultures evolved through social interactions, initially without written language. The development of written language changed the way human beings developed, in large part by influencing brain development and expressed new brain-mediated capabilities that had previously been un-expressed.
I see technology doing the same things today. The brain clearly could not have a "genetics" specific for the use of a joystick. Nor could the brain have a genetics specific for continuous attention to a two-dimensional moving image such as those in the television. Yet external symbolic representation such as the written word, visual images on television, and complex three-dimensional videography are all sensed, processed, stored, and acted on by the human brain. Because the brain literally changes in response to experiences, these "new" (from a historical perspective) experiences (the written word or television) cause changes in brain development, brain organization, and brain function that were never expressed hundreds of generations ago.
Modern technologies are very powerful because they rely on one of the most powerful genetic biases we do have — the preference for visually presented information. The human brain has a tremendous bias for visually presented information. Television, movies, videos, and most computer programs are very visually oriented and therefore attract and maintain the attention of young children.
The problem with this is that many of the modern technologies are very passive. Because of this they do not provide children with the quality and quantity of crucial emotional, social, cognitive, or physical experiences they require when they are young. The developing child requires the right combination of these experiences at the right times during development in order to develop optimally. This cannot happen if the child is sitting for hours passively watching television.
Sitting young children in front of a television for hours also prevents that child from having hours of other developmental experiences. Children need real-time social interactions; technology such as television can prevent that from happening.
On the other hand there are many positive qualities to modern technologies. The technologies that benefit young children the greatest are those that are interactive and allow the child to develop their curiosity, problem solving and independent thinking skills.
ECT: Do you see the use of specific things like computers as part of an early childhood curriculum as being powerful enough to change brain development the same way you've just described television?
Dr. Perry: Absolutely. I think the difference between computers and television is that television tends to be quite passive. You sit and you are watching and things are happening in front of you but you don't do anything. Children are natural "manipulators" of the world — they learn through controlling the movement and interactions between objects in their world — dolls, blocks, toy cars, their own bodies. With television, they watch and do not control anything. Computers allow interaction. Children can control the pace and activity and make things happen on computers. They can also repeat an activity again and again if they choose.

ECT: As you look at 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds being offered opportunities like using cameras and tape recorders and video cameras in the classroom, do you think that based on your comments earlier on how children develop with real-time activities, do you think they have the capability of understanding and using those tools well?

Dr. Perry: That's actually a really good question. Preschool children are still having significant cognitive growth. In a very real sense, children think differently than adults. This is so because their brains have not yet completely developed. So to tape a conversation and replay it for an adult means something entirely different than when a three-year-old hears their voice on a tape. These experiences can be very positive and mind-expanding for a child — as long as they are done at the right time.
Children need real-life experiences with real people to truly benefit from available technologies. Technologies should be used to enhance curriculum and experiences for children. Children have to have an integrated and well-balanced set of experiences to help them grow into capable adults that can handle social-emotional interactions as well as develop their intellectual abilities.
I think that balance and timing are the keys to healthy development. Provide the right kinds of experiences at the right time. For example, if you take a newborn and do not hold that infant and put her in a seventh grade classroom and leave her for the afternoon, it's not a good experience. It can actually be abusive. But, if you take the 14-year-old child and rather than having them spend the afternoon in school, you hold and rock them all afternoon, that is not the right experience at the right time for that child. When a six-month-old child is strapped into a chair in front of a videotape designed to teach them a different language, that is a different experience than an eight-year-old child listening to the same tape. The infant's experience would be totally inappropriate, but the eight-year-old's may be great. What's important is when experience is provided and how it's mixed in with other crucial experiences.
ECT: Your comments begin to address an issue that's important today. As we move into the 21st century with pressure to gain experiences in technology, specifically computers, would you address how parents and early childhood educators could specifically work together to create this balance for young children?
Dr. Perry: While technology can help us teach children, in the end our children learn from us. Parents and teachers must act as facilitators in children's learning. For example, sitting down together and using playing cards is a very cognitive experience. They can learn how to add, they can learn how to predict, they can laugh, and they can learn how to win. In their interaction with a parent they're using this externalized object which is a playing card and a game. A very similar thing can happen with emerging technologies. I believe parents and teachers can take advantage of the interactive qualities of a computer to enhance the experiences available to children.
As parents think about the future they need to realize two things: technology is not going to go away and we are in the midst of a major sociocultural quantum shift. These technologies are revolutionizing the world our children will live in. So our task is to balance appropriate skill-development with technologies with the core principles and experiences necessary to raise healthy children.
We must keep the core principles of healthy development in mind as we incorporate these technology and tools. If we do that we'll be fine. And at the heart of any healthy child is the opportunity for enriching and nurturing interactions with other human beings. I think the key to making technologies healthy is to make sure that we use them to enhance or even expand our social interactions and our view of the world as opposed to using them to isolate and create an artificial world.
Unfortunately, technology is often used to replace social situations and I would rather see it used to enhance human interactions. And I think that can happen.
ECT: Earlier you began to discuss some of the pitfalls that you see with respect to using technology with children. Do you have any other thoughts or anything you would specifically like to cover there?
Dr. Perry: One of the obvious issues that all parents and even the people that develop multimedia material struggle with is controlling access to content that may not be developmentally appropriate. There are going to be computer programs and sites on the Internet and television shows that have content that may be appropriate for an 18-year-old, but very inappropriate for a preschool child. It means that in an environment where there is not parental control or the possibility for supervision, a child may have access to content that has extreme violence or presents inappropriate or destructive concepts such as racism, misogyny, or age-inappropriate sexuality. In the end, as with all other tools, adults must protect children from misuse or inappropriate access.
As we begin to create more child-sensitive television, for example, we will have to recognize that young children will understand in different ways from adults. For example, a 4-year-old child seeing the Oklahoma bombing — or a plane crash coverage on the news multiple times may think that buildings are blowing up all over the place and many planes crashed — rather than understanding that these multiple stories are actually from single events. And so access to information that is developmentally appropriate is something that we need to be very concerned about.
ECT: Would you address how you see specific opportunities for the use of technology to support children, say with special needs, are at-risk or who need assistance with language development?
Dr. Perry: Yes, in fact we have seen the use of technology here work very well to help children. The use of specialized computer programs has really helped a lot of kids that we work with. Even on the simplest level, if a child has some sort of fine motor or large motor problem so that their handwriting is very immature and very slow and looks sloppy, their esteem about their work product or their homework is very low. So they may be very reluctant to work hard because they always get negative feedback. They hand in papers that are all messy. You put them on a word processor and they can hand in papers that are clean and neat and they can see how to spell words correctly. Just very simple, non-specialized, software can be very helpful if used in the right way.
In addition, there are a number of specialized programs that allow children with certain information-processing problems to get a multimedia presentation of content so that they can better understand and process the material. They are able to see the written words and see a visual image and hear the sounds — all at the same time. Combining these sensory-modalities helps a child to more efficiently internalize information about a topic. If they have, for example, an auditory processing difficulty or a reading disorder they may be very bright but they don't read very efficiently so if something is read to them on a CD-ROM with visual images they are better able to internalize the information. This helps these children feel better about themselves because they perform better. They're not as afraid of school anymore.
There are emerging technologies used in traditional video games (e.g., Sega, Nintendo) that our group is trying to get dedicated to alternative interactive games with more stimulating but non-violent themes. We are hoping to use a variety of game-like models to teach kids language, to teach children about self-esteem, to teach children about the impact of trauma and how it can be overcome, for example. I think that when these technologies are actually used for more than entertainment we're going to see tremendous positive benefits.
Even now there are a number of good software programs with a primary educational focus on mathematics or reading. These programs, which are very engaging, challenge children to read better and learn how to solve math problems. When information is presented in a fun and engaging way, it is a lot easier than looking at a single page that has a bunch of columns of numbers you're supposed to add up.

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SIDEBAR:

Dr. Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D., is an internationally recognized authority on brain development and children in crisis. Dr. Perry leads the ChildTrauma Academy, a pioneering center providing service, research and training in the area of child maltreatment (http://www.childtrauma.org/). In addition he is the Medical Director for Provincial Programs in Children's Mental Health for Alberta, Canada. Dr. Perry served as consultant on many high-profile incidents involving traumatized children, including the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado; the Oklahoma City Bombing; and the Branch Davidian siege. His clinical research and practice focuses on traumatized children-examining the long-term effects of trauma in children, adolescents and adults. Dr. Perry's work has been instrumental in describing how traumatic events in childhood change the biology of the brain. The author of more than 200 journal articles, book chapters, and scientific proceedings and is the recipient of a variety of professional awards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOhb4n4ADbM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmhdKQ3m9d4&feature=related

http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/GW4008.pdf

ARWA ALSADOON