COMPUTER
DIMENSIONS

Temple Technology

MARK LICHTERMAN STAFF WRITER

y

HIGH END SYSTEMS
FOR
DISCRIMINATING
USERS

• ou need only

browse the aisles
of your local com-
puter store or the
shelves of your local library to
realize the enormous number
of software titles for children
available on the market
The software industry ap-
parently has succeeded in con-

two young children, I often
wonder whether the use of
computers in the elementary
school classroom really en-
hances the learning process,
or whether it is simply a con-
cession to the parental de-
mand for computer
involvement.
On a society-wide basis,

basic systems to
high-end work stations

we service all of your
computer needs

3 year parts and labor
warranty on all
new PC systems

includes home
installation

REE

313-422-0101

APPLET

ask for Billy Kidd

THE

12

vincing parents that their
offspring stand no
chance of being admit-
ted to Harvard if they can't
navigate through the latest
software releases by the time
they are 3.
Responding to this demand
for early computer literacy, el-
ementary schools have rushed
to install the machines in their
classrooms. As the father of

that question obviously has
no simple answers. Here in
Detroit, however, at Temple
Israel's Hodari Family Chil-
drens' Library and Media
Center, I discovered that the
learning process clearly is ad-
vanced by the use of comput-
ers and videos as supplements

to classroom discussions and
projects.
Francine Perlman, Temple
Israel's education director,
gave me a tour of this very
welcoming facility, opened
last year and now used by
some 300 persons each
week. The large, circular
central space is lined by
shelves of books and videos.
The wings of the room harbor
quiet reading spaces and a
place for children to hear
stories read out loud. Center
users look up to see a ceiling
decorated with a pale blue
sky and fluffy white clouds,
surrounded by a border of
the Hebrew alphabet and a
large Star of David in the
middle.
The room houses 12 sepa-
rate computers, each
equipped with
dual headsets
so that two
children can
work together
on the same
system. Be-
cause the pods
containing the
computers are
moveable, the
room can be
easily reconfig-
ured to create an environment
that fosters cooperative learn-
ing.
The center's six television
monitors are evenly spaced,
allowing for the effective pre-
sentation of video materials to
a large group.
As an introduction on Holo-