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The microcomputers are here, and their influence will be felt significantly within the lives of our children. Presently, the educational impact of microcomputer technology is focused primarily on the upper and middle grades. However, it is in the elementary grades, perhaps even among preschoolers, that microcomputers may ultimately challenge and radically alter traditional instructional modes. Attention to the pictures accompanying this article provides a subtle insight into the potential of this technology. The expressions are those of a group of preschoolers intent upon their first encounter with a microcomputer. The children are “doodling” within the parameters of a preprogrammed videographics module. All of the faces reflect deep concentration, yet the variety of moods—surprise, curiosity, intensity, frustration, tentativeness—dispel any notions of singularity of experience. It is within this diversity of individual moments that we must come to recognize and to understand the work of the microcomputer.
Kathleen Martin (Sun,) studied this question.