"Computers Make Kids Smarter- Right?" by Heather Kirkpatrick and Larry Cuban

The notion that someone would think computers in and of themselves could make kids smarter is very interesting to me. I personally think that you could put all of the latest and greatest of tools in a teacher's classroom and their kids not perform any better than a class that has considerably fewer tools. You see, it is all in how a teacher uses the tools for the purpose of teaching and learning. Likewise, what students bring with them everyday to their classes also has a great impact on how well they achieve. Everyday our students bring with them a suitcase full of opportunities, problems and issues that don't even have anything to do with the teacher or the class. However, that suitcase has everything to do with a student's readiness for learning. I wasn't surprised by the conclusion of the article that research was basically unable to prove the impact of computers on the achievement of students. What I'd like to know is what impact teachers who utilize technology as one of many tools for learning are having on the achievement of their students. Now that would be a research study!