This chapter covers traditional computer tool - word processing, spreadsheet, and database applications. Tools can increase student productivity, help them become more active learners, and allow them to acquire knowledge and develop skills in unique ways.

This chapter will address the following questions:

• Where are three different levels on which students benefit from applying tool applications in content-area tasks?
• Why are the capabilities of word processing applications especially well sutied to teaching writing using the writing process approach?
• What are some classroom word processing, database, and spreadsheet activities that lead to more active processing of course content?
• What are the general characteristics of tool activities that increase the probability of meaningful learning.

A tool, by definition, is an object that allows the user to perform tasks with greater efficiency or quality.

It appears that educational experiences with computer tools result in students’:

• learning to use the computer tools
• performing certain academic tasks more effectively and efficiently because of the tools
• learning domain skills and content-area knowledge through the application of tools to content-appropriate tasks

I. Word Processing (pp. 160-173)

I.A Level of Use

Word processing is the single most popular use of computer technology in schools. However, the level of use is not as high as you might expect. Ravitz(1999) asked teachers if their students had used word processing to complete at least three lessons during the past year - 69% of elementary school teachers said yes. The level of use varied greatly in middle and secondary classrooms - 60% of English teachers at each level met this criterion while only 15% of math teachers used word processing this frequently.

1.B Word Processing and Writing Quality

The questions of whether or not access to a computer helps students write more effectively or learn to write more effectively are complex.

At a theoretical level, Perkins (1985) proposes that powerful tools may result in learners acquiring greater skill because of “opportunities get taken.” The logic of this hypothesis works like this:

• word processing software reduces the burden of many fundamental writing tasks - editing, rewriting
• writers can take risks and push their skills when revision is easy
• attempting more challenging tasks with greater frequency will result in better writing skills

The research on word processing in the learning process is ambiguous. It appears that students do make more revisions, write longer documents, and make fewer low level errors when working with a word processing program. Some do not regard such indicators as signficant and suggest that skills such as clarity and organization are uneffected.

One counter argument is that writers will bring old habits to the word processor and deep skills are unlikely to develop unless the instructional environment shifts to take advantage of what word processing can offer. In other words, unless students frequently receive feedback and rewrite the potential of word processing may not be realized. More recent studies (e.g., Owston and Wideman, 1997) that have examined the benefits of word processing over longer periods of time are more optimistic.

I.C The Writing Process Approach

Features of word processing are particularly well suited to what is often called the writing process approach. As the phrase suggests, the writing process approach recognizes that writing involves a number of tasks:

• planning
• drafting
• editing/revising
• publishing

The process approach is often implemented within a writing community in which participants write, rewrite, read what others have written, offer feedback and discuss the process of writing.

I.D Keyboarding

Opinions of keyboarding instruction differ dramatically and have important implications for how and when computers are used.

Those advocating that students receive keyboarding instruction make two points:

• students must achieve an acceptable level of keyboarding proficiency before writing at the keyboard will be practical
• students spending a lot of time keyboarding without proper instruction will develop bad habits

How much training is necessary? Here is one analysis -

• students at the upper elementary level can write by hand at about 10 words per minute
• to equal this speed at the computer would take 20-30 hours of keyboard training

Should student use of computers be limited until they have met established keyboarding standards? The answer here is based on values.

Keyboarding expanded

II. Spreadsheets (pp. 173-180)

While many educators may be unfamiliar with spreadsheet applications, the development of spreadsheet software was a factor in the rapid growth of microcomputers. The value of storing and manipulating data (mostly numbers) was recognized in business settings prompting the purchase of hardware and software.

A spreadsheet porogram allows:

• the organization of data
• performing calculations using stored data
• display of numerical data in the form of charts and graphs
• hypothetical manipulation of data sets

A spreadsheet is a grid of columns (designated by letters) and rows (designated by numbers). The intersection of a column and a row is a cell (designated by a letter-number combination - A1). (see example below)

Each cell can hold:

• a data item
• a formula explaining how data are to be manipulated

Spreadsheet programs can be applied in academic settings which require the manipulation of numerical data. The following example from the book demonstrates how an algebraic equation can be solved using a spreadsheet.



III. Databases (pp. 179-186)

Databases programs are used to organize, store, and search for information. A particular database file consists of multiple records each made up of multiple fields.

Each field holds a user-designated category of information - e.g., last names, phone numbers, pictures of flowers.

A record is a user-defined collection of fields - e.g., items of information about a student

Figure: Template for a Wildflower Database - note the designated fields. See textbook for a completed record.



Developing a database