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Bennett, Frederick. (1998).
Computers as Tutors: Solving the Crisis in Education.
Sarasota, FL: Faben Inc.
Bennett is a readable writer who strongly believes that American
schools would be well served by an aggressive adoption of
individualized electronic instruction. He systematically points out a
number of benefits, both of individualization and of computer use. The
book would be better if he were less the advocate and offered a more
realistic, balanced assessment of the computer's ability to contribute
to education.
The book is full of sweeping generalizations and quick dismissals
of negative concerns. Bennett's claim that it is currently feasible to
start teaching virtually every child virtually every academic subject
largely via computerized instruction is particularly surprising given
that he has apparently consulted few resources published after the
early to mid 90's. The weaknesses in Bennett's arguments make this
book easy to dismiss.
Pages: 232
Price: $25.00
ISBN: 0-9669583-6-5
Reviewed by Kate Corby, Michigan State University
DeCicco, Eta, Farmer, Mike, & Hargrave, James. (1998).
Using the Internet in Secondary Schools.
London: Kogan Page.
If nothing else, this book proves the truth of the old song "Its
a Small World After All." Written in Great Britain for a British
audience much of it will be very familiar to American readers.
Connectivity and the Internet truly are a universal language. The
first half of the book in devoted to an introduction
to Internet technology, with an emphasis on software and practical
tips. All of this information would transfer easily to an American
audience, though I doubt an
American novice would choose a British book for this purpose.
The second section is the part that is tempting. It offers lesson
plans for many curriculum areas that utilize Web resources. The
concept of just what constitutes
a "lesson plan" is rather vague, and these plans are brief, generally
only a page or two. They offer specific Web addresses and a few
paragraphs suggesting how the information a site presents could be used
as the basis of study. Many of the
suggestions use the web resource as a data set, taking bits of
information -- weather
statistics, random story endings, etc., and using them as part of a
class exercise. There are many good ideas that should generate
creative lessons. Readers who hope the book will provide British
specific lessons may be disappointed, as many of the Web sites
suggested for use are located in the United States.
Pages: 154
Price: $25.50
ISBN: 0 7494 2522 9
Reviewed by Kate Corby, Michigan State University
Duffy, Bernadette. (1998).
Supporting Creativity and Imagination in the Early Years.
Buckingham: Open University
Press.
This is an admirably detailed guide to creativity for persons
involved in caring for young children. In addition to expected
information
about developmental stages and caregiver response, Duffy discusses
diversity
and accessibility issues that affect children's response to
opportunities to
express their creativity.
The suggestions presented here are all based on current research
with
many references and suggestions for further reading throughout
the text. While there are occasional references to specifically
British
concerns, the work should be valuable anywhere. Duffy uses outline and
lists formats
extensively; clearly conveying the important issues the she
wishes to address, but compromising readability to some extent.
Pages: 156
Price: $78.95 Hard cover, $21.95 Paper
ISBN: 0-335-19872-4 Hard cover, 0-335-19871-6 Paper
Reviewed by Kate Corby, Michigan State University
Flippo, Rona F. (1999).
What do the experts say? Helping children learn to read.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
With this highly readable book Rona Flippo appeals to all teachers and
other school professionals to challenge the popular assumptions that
the teaching of reading in the US is woefully inadequate and that a
higher authority is needed to step in and reform reading education.
Alarmed by what she sees as the media hype which portrays reading
experts as at opposing and mutually-exclusive sides in the "reading
wars," Flippo has written this book to demonstrate that there is in
fact common ground among the different approaches to the teaching of
reading. She is clearly very concerned about the apparent trend toward
top-down decision-making in which state education boards or even state
legislators have begun mandating specific teaching practices in their
schools.
In search of the common ground, Flippo asked a number of experts -
educators and researchers - to generate lists of contexts and practices
which would either hinder or enhance the teaching of reading. Using
these lists, which she and her panel of experts developed over a period
of ten years, she identifies points of agreement between those with a
whole language perspective, those who advocate more traditional
methods, and those with a more interactive or integrated perspective.
She does indeed find many areas on which all of the experts agree and
presents a balanced and well-articulated explanation of those
significant points of agreement.
Perhaps the most interesting chapters in the book are those written by
teachers who, after reading Flippo's analysis of the experts' opinions,
described their own real-life practices and how those paralleled with
the views of the experts. They, too, were able to find much common
ground.
This book is not a guide to teaching reading. Its ultimate purpose is
to get politicians and state-level boards of education members out of
the classroom, leaving the selection of teaching practices to the real
experts - teachers. Showing that reading educators do have a common
ground - and, thus, do have a sense of what is critical in reading
development - is an important strategy in achieving that end, according
to Flippo. She offers teachers the opportunity to add their voices to
the discussion by completing a survey indicating their level of
agreement with what the experts' identified as helping or hindering
learning to read. Those confused by the "reading wars," will find this
book useful in clarifying the fundamental elements needed in reading
education. Teachers who are concerned about political interference in
the classroom may wish to respond to this call to action by using this
as a basis for dialogue with other teachers, concerned parents and all
those interested in how our children learn to read.
Pages: 129
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 0-325-00044-1
Reviewed by Darlene Nichols, University of Michigan
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