Crowded classroom setup!

This picture that I found is a typical classroom setup for classes across the country, although this scene is changing. The problem with this picture is that students cannot easily interact or collaborate with one another. In many cases at the elementary level, these computers would seem like adults hovering over a child. If students had smaller, portable laptop computers, they could easily move around the classroom with the laptops and the students would also feel as though they are the ones in control, rather than the computers. The teacher also cannot easily float around the classroom to help all of the students. This picture demonstrates the problem in a lot of computer labs. The computers take up all of the desk space, leaving minimal space for the students to lay their work down that they need to accomplish the task on the computer. The picture to the left is not ideal for any classroom setup, especially in an elementary school. It is of a young student at a computer that looks 5 times bigger than him!

This is an very useful website that gives you tons of ideas on how to use the computer in the classroom. Check it out! http://www.computerlab.kids.new.net/what_to_do.htm