UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 31, Page 10
May 12, 1994
Graduate student's paper receives top honors

     What do computers and crayons have in common? They are both excellent
educational tools for children as young as 3 years old, according to
Bernadette Caruso, a graduate student in educational development.
     Caruso presented a paper on "Computers and Crayons: Training Teachers
in Developmentally Appropriate Computer Use" at a recent  Society for
Technology and Teacher Education (STATE) conference in Washington, D. C.,
where she won the top award in the category of "Best Integration of
Technology into Early Childhood Education."
     Caruso's co-authors were graduate student Chris Trottier, and
Trottier's adviser, Daniel Shade, associate professor of individual and
family studies.
     Shade said it was exciting to receive the award, which was highly
competitive since there were more than 250 papers submitted in the
category.
     Fred Hofstetter, director of the Instructional Technology Center, who
teaches multimedia technology in the College of Education, said the award
"shows our efforts to integrate technology into the teacher preparation
program are beginning to bear fruit."
     Caruso, who graduated from the College of Education in 1990, has
several years of experience working with children and computers. She began
as an undergraduate in Shade's program, which focuses on evaluating
software and hardware and developing appropriate ways children can interact
with computers.
     Children are familiar and at ease with computers and computer
terminology, and computers open up a micro world for them to explore in all
areas from learning about space to spelunking. Early childhood software
promotes literacy, and young children enjoy educational games, quickly
learning to recognize numbers and letters, according to Caruso.
     Unlike adults who use computers on a one-to-one basis, children use
computers socially, and they gather around them in groups, Caruso said.
     Caruso also has been involved in a teachers' summer program, directed
by Shade and offered in conjunction with a children's computer camp for
4- to 8-year-olds.
     The program attracts teachers from all over the country to learn about
integrating technology into the classroom.
     Many of the teachers who come to the University for the intensive
course are less comfortable with computer technology than their young
students. Caruso is sympathetic. "I was the biggest technophobic there
was," she confessed, "and would type draft after draft of a paper rather
than learn to use a word processor."
     The course for teachers begins with step one-how to turn the computer
on-and progresses from there to learning maintenance, and later hardware
and software theory. After mastering the basics, the teachers then get
hands-on computer experience working with directly with young children and
computers.
     Caruso's research focus is how computer software relates to reading
and writing skills for elementary school children in the early grades. Her
adviser is Deborah Hicks, assistant professor of educational development.
                                                  -Sue Swyers Moncure