Past and Future of the Classroom

This article is about past and future of the classroom .For example,When it opens in 2002, Westview High School will be the Ferrari of high-tech high schools. It will have a short-range wireless network so students can access the Internet from their laptops anywhere on the school grounds. There will be 400 personal computers for 1,000 students -- with more PCs on the way -- and numerous handheld devices, such as the Palm organizer from Palm Inc. And there will be virtual classrooms, allowing students to log on from home to check assignments and participate in chat-room discussions.

Hudson Public School District, just outside Boston, is a case in point. Sheldon Berman, the district's superintendent, authorized a pilot program using Palm handheld computers in a few classrooms several years ago. Students man their Palms with probes, made by companies such as ImagiWorks Inc., that measure temperature and water acidity so they can test pollution levels at local streams. Back at school, they download their findings onto a computer and analyze the data.

Sensing the trend toward mobility, companies such as Palm and Handspring Inc. are aggressively marketing their handheld devices -- which sell for several hundred dollars less than the average PC -- to the K-12 market. 

For now, I’m eager about the future. I wonder just what else we can do with all of this newly-available technology,and just how much of it we’re willing to invest in to make sure we produce the best possible education for our students.