Making most of computersNinad VengurlekarComputers in schools is no longer a new phenomenon in India. While a large number of schools are using computers to ‚Ëœteach computers‚, many upscale private schools have started utilising them to teach regular subjects like science, history, geography, mathematics etc. However, there is growing frustration that existing computer labs cannot accommodate both ‚Ëœcomputer education‚ and ‚Ëœcomputer-aided education‚ activities in schools. With limited budgets available to prove that computer-aided learning helps students understand regular subjects better, Indian educators have long debated the benefits of integration of technology in education. So is the problem really with computers or the way teachers are using computers in schools? I believe it is the latter. In my view, Indian educators need to re-evaluate whether computers are ‚Ëœinformation and knowledge objects‚ or ‚Ëœobjects-to-think-with‚. This requires a powerful mindset shift from traditional views about computers in education. A computer as an ‚Ëœobject-to-think-with‚ can offer fundamentally new ways of learning and thinking within the student and teacher communities.Seymour Papert, a protege of renowned educator Jean Piaget and the author of Mindstorms (1980), invented the Learning Theory of Constructionism. It was “grounded in the idea that people (including children) learn by actively constructing new knowledge, rather than having information ‚Ëœpoured‚ into their heads”. Based on this theory, almost 24 years ago, Papert forecasted the role of computers in education. “In many schools today, the phrase ‚Ëœcomputer-aided instruction‚ means making the computer teach the child. One might say the computer is being used to program the child. In my vision, the child programs the computer and, in doing so, both acquires a sense of mastery over a piece of the most modern and powerful technology, and establishes intimate contact with some of the deepest ideas from science, from mathematics, and from the art of intellectual model building,” he wrote in Mindstorms. Most of us learn to understand our thought processes very late in life, after leaving school, college or even later. Now ICT (information communication technology) can offer this benefit to children in schools at a very young age; it can make children think in structured ways and over a period of time they learn to use these skills to master difficult concepts of maths, science and other subjects. Let me offer the example of one of my classes at MIT Media Lab. As part of the course work, we were asked to download a children‚s software program developed by MIT Media Lab and use it to generate some computer games. Though this exercise seemed very simple for students from the American school system, it was a mind-numbing experience for me. As I struggled to make the program work, the computer forced me to visualise something I had never experienced throughout my entire life ‚ it made me project my thought process on the terminal. What I designed as a program and how I designed it translated into a visual representation of my mind at work! It made me ‚Ëœthink about thinking itself‚. A revealingly sensational experience for a graduate of Indian academia. If this could happen to me so late in my life, then surely we can make it happen for millions of Indian children using computers in schools? I believe we can, and here‚s how. First and foremost, teachers need to stop transferring traditional teaching and learning pedagogies to the computer. Computer labs should be for ‚Ëœlearning‚ rather than ‚Ëœteaching‚, which means that instead of forcing knowledge upon students, by making them passively absorb multimedia content, teachers should encourage them to freely utilise ICT to undertake projects and assignments which make them think creatively. There are several programs that schools can download (at no cost) from the internet to undertake such activities. Among them: http://education.mit.edu/starlogo/; http://www.squeak. org/; http://www.kiddonet.com/ kiddonet/gelSparks/general.htm. Not only would these programs teach students to think cerebrally, they will prompt them to ‚Ëœthink about thinking‚‚ a process wholly neglected by the Indian education system.Secondly, schools need to start using projectors or compact media centres for teaching regular subjects through multimedia. A projector or a compact media centre is equivalent to the cost of four personal computers. By compromising on four PCs for a projector, schools can free up computer labs having 15-30 computers. There is little that kids need to interact while learning curriculum based topics on a computer. The additional free lab time available because of a projector can be used to make students undertake creative computer based projects that sharpen their critical thinking skills. Thirdly, teachers need to re-focus their ‚Ëœduties‚ on the computer. While making powerpoint presentations can be a great way to teach students, it is too much of an investment of precious teacher time. Such activities should be undertaken during long holidays or teachers must use ready-made multimedia content available off-the-shelf in the market. Computers should be used by teachers to sharpen their own thinking skills, and thereby, teaching skills. Though no country yet has fully embraced Papert‚s philosophy about computers in education, India can be the first. Because for a country with over 1 billion people, submerged in millions of problems, it is more germane for educators to cultivate minds that think, than students who score. (Ninad Vengurlekar is reading for a Masters in technology in education at Harvard University)