Failure to Connect: How Computers Affect Our Children's Minds -- and What We Can Do About It
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Book Overview
* How should schools incorporate computer use into their curriculum?
* Which types of computer software programs should be avoided?
* Are children who don't have computers in class and at home doomed to fall behind their peers?
Few parents and educators stop to consider that computers, used incorrectly, may do far more harm than good to a child's growing brain and social/emotional development. In this comprehensive and practical guide to kids and computers, Jane M. Healy, Ph.D., author of the groundbreaking bestseller Endangered Minds, examines the advantages and drawbacks of computer use for kids at home and school, exploring its effects on their health, mental development, and creativity.
In addition, this timely and ey-opening book presents:
* Concrete examples of how to develop a technology plan and use computers successfully with children of different age groups as supplements to classroom curricula, as research tools, or in family projects
* Resources for reliable reviews of child-oriented software
* Questions parents should ask when their children are using computers in school
* Advice on how to manage computer use at home
Customer Reviews
Rated 5 starsFair Warning to Parents-Failure to Connect
As a parent and public librarian interested in child development I often recommend this book to the parents of young children. The frequent comments from parents, teachers, professors, children and industry experts that appear throughout each chapter add to the evidence and personal examples of the dangers of over-exposure to computers for pre-schoolers and young children.
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Rated 5 starsAn Accessible Account of the Case Against Technology
This is an excellent book, if for no other reason than that Healy is willing to put forward arguments (albeit imperfect ones) on the other side of the computers-in-education debate. The whole discussion has been decidedly one-sided, with, as Healy notes, most of the published material issued by people with a financial interest in promoting technology, or with some vague notions about its benefits.As a person who grew up...
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Rated 5 starsMost information on computers for learning in one great book
FAILURE TO CONNECT explores learning with computers within the foundations of learning. Most innovators including computer innovators have forgotten the role of linear subject matter texts, expository writing, sequential order, structure, order, organization, systematic instruction, group recitations, time for reflection and deep processing, discipline, and hard work have played in their own education. These innovators...
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Rated 5 starsThis is an excellent book.
I highly recommend this title to any parent, teacher or librarian that is concerned with the education of young children. It is a thoughtful and well-written examination of the issues surrounding the use of computers in education. All too often books of this type are nothing but sales pitches and "techno-babbble" from someone in the computer industry. This book is a wonderful exception.
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Rated 5 starsOne of the best books on the subject I've ever read.
Failure to Connect is an excellent and extremely well written account of the potential dangers (and benefits) of using computers for teaching and for entertainment. Dr. Healy points out that there are a number of physical and developmental factors that we don't know enough about to entrust children to "cyber-development" -- and there's a lot of evidence showing the necessity for the presence of caring adults and physical...
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