Educational uses of a dynabook

Abstract

The Dynabook personal computing concept, as introduced by the Xerox Learning Research Group (LRG) in the early 1970's, is a new communications tool based on the retrieval of dynamic information. Implementing the Dynabook concept is requiring several stages of computer hardware and software development. At each stage of developing an experimental (or ‘interim Dynabook’) system, we are studying its use for educational purposes by conducting computer programming classes for children ranging in age from 6 to 15 years and by implementing a number of laboratory situations for particular subject areas. Preliminary results of our studies have demonstrated the ease with which we can teach programming when it involves the combination of existing instructions in order to cause some computer-based effect. But more than the ability to combine existing instructions is needed in order to invent and construct a generally useful tool such as a graphical layout system or a text editor. These involve skills we typically associate with expert designers. Many of these skills are teachable, especially with the instructional assistance of a personal computer. Supported by several examples of laboratory situations that we have implemented, we propose a design curriculum based on three conceptual areas: process, symbolic representation, and methods of interpretation, especially with respect to the use of information retrieval as an aid in decision making. In the examples we have chosen to describe, the design skills exercised are: simple and conditional sequencing, rule or constraint specification, hypothesis testing and modelling. The particular situations cited are: programming in Smalltalk, computer-based animation, GameX (a game that involves programming by rule specification). ThingLab (a laboratory for describing physical or geometric objects) and a ‘kit’ for assembling event-driven simulations.