I haven't been able to make up my mind about the role of technology in education (especially computers). On the one hand, given that he's a passionate scientist

I haven't been able to make up my mind about the role of technology in education (especially computers). On the one hand, given that he's a passionate scientist and educator, I take Clifford Stoll's opinion seriously when he says that he believes computers don't belong in classrooms. I think that the effects on developing brains of large amounts of time with computers is undeniable at this point. And, as an observer, I do not see that the greater and greater application of computers in classrooms is resulting in more intelligent students. (More informed, possibly.) On the other hand, a very long time ago, I had a cousin who was visiting and was having trouble with some physics homework about the Doppler Effect. Being a proper nerd, I quickly whipped up a simple animation of an aircraft at varying speeds across the screen, with concentric circles at regular intervals. I thought I understood the Doppler Effect and sonic booms and all that; when I was done, and I saw it in action, I realized how poorly I'd actually understood what was going on. So ... in the lower grades at least, I think there's a chance that computers could help with mathematical understanding. Younger students seem to have a lot of trouble with things like mathematical association and commutation, which seems to lead to a longtime discomfort with things like the mental math described in the article. Maybe some kind of multimedia demonstration early on would help that.