Forty-six high SES school-aged children (aged nine to fifteen) participated in a prototypical after-school and summer computer camp provided by an independent non-profit research laboratory. Following an initial sixteen-hour exposure to Logo and Bank Street Writer, children twelve years of age or less were found to minimally shift towards an internal locus of control (paired 1-tailed r-test significant at .03), as measured pre and posttest with the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control (LOC) Scale for Children. The LOC scale was chosen as an operationalization of Papert's concept of "empowering children" via microcomputer interaction. Because prior research on LOC has associated an internal LOC with positive learner attributes (such as the ability to delay gratification, persist on task, greater tendencies toward beneficial social interaction, less dogmatism, academic competence, social maturity, and possibly a correlate of independent, striving, and self-motivated behavior), it was felt that such an investigation could assist researchers in more clearly distinguishing between the reaction of different groups towards technology as a tool. Treatment consisted of a semi-structured sixteen-hour microcomputer experience in a class/lab environment. Software used in the study was restricted to Logo and Bank Street Writer. Classification of the LOC instrument by topic and response suggests that even highly internal-scoring children do not regard "planning" as an important process leading to successful outcomes in life. The relationship of this finding to a recent study conducted by Bank Street College utilizing Logo is discussed.
EDUCATIONAL COMPUTING: HUMANIZING TOOL OR SKINNER BOX?Reinforcement has long been recognized as a major process contributing to behaviors associated with successful learning and applied intelligence among school children [ 11. As the use of educational technologies continues to
101Reprinted by permission TUCSON
The major purpose of this study is to determine whether children assigned to classes for severe oral language handicaps in California by a multidisciplinary diagnostic team exhibit a characteristic ITPA performance profile or a number of distinct profiles. A factor analysis and a cluster analysis was made on the scores of 237 children. It was found that on the factor analysis the results showed a clear auditory-vocal factor and a visual-motor factor. All five tests in the visual-motor channel were superior to the five tests in the auditory-vocal channel. Within the auditory-vocal channel the lowest scores were in auditory association and grammatic closure. Ninety-seven percent of the oral language handicapped children had the lowest scores on these two subtests. It appears from these results that the major deficit of children assigned to severe oral language classes is a deficit in the central organization process, formerly referred to as "central aphasia, or inner language".
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.