`Each child deserves respect as an individual. Each needs help in developing his or her own unique capacities and in finding ways to weave them into a healthy social fabric," says the Alliance for Children. You couldn't find better practitioners of that philosophy than at the child-centred Holy Spirit Boys National School, Ballymun, Dublin.
The theory that computers are mental straitjackets for children, rather than tools of learning and liberation, seems disproved by the "special needs" class at Holy Spirit. The boys proudly display their colourful Lego-Logo models, which they have built using computer programming, robotics, gears, axles, sensor technology and basic engineering principles. Guided by their exceptionally dedicated teacher, John Kelly, and their enthusiastic principal, Patrick Fitzgerald, the boys have built a robotic garage, a crane, a lift and other mechanical objects. Now that they are technology designers, not merely users, the special-needs classroom is now considered "cool", Kelly says.
Garda Jack Kildea, a member of the board of management, likes the motivation and commitment so much he thinks the boys should have Lego-Logo kits to keep them occupied in off-school hours.
Holy Spirit is one of 13 schools - disadvantaged and advantaged, urban and rural, boys and girls - taking part in the NCTE's Schools Integration Project in collaboration with St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dublin, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the child-friendly computer language Logo was developed. The project involves pupils in constructing robotic models using Lego construction kits and a programmable brick called the RCX Brick. The model reacts to touch and light sensors and can be programmed to imitate the behaviour of a creature, a person or a robot. The children plan how they want the model to behave and write the computer programmes to create this behaviour.
The children "work through problems and express their own ideas with it", says the NCTE. "They are learning with technology, not about technology. They are developing problem solving, critical thinking and cognitive skills in a dynamic and exciting environment. Action is now being pushed ahead by the pupils rather than the teacher."
Kelly experienced this "collaborative learning" as "very humbling initially" and has been amazed at the effect that Lego-Logo has had on one of the sixthclass boys in particular, a boy who was determined never to return to school last October. Since he became involved in Lego-Logo, he has had a perfect attendance record and has progressed socially. Inspired to learn more about mechanical engineering, he has even started reading.
Deirdre Butler, head of the back-up team for the project and lecturer in education at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, sees this as a case of "multiple intelligences" - a child who tests as "low IQ" and performs poorly academically has other talents which can be unlocked by ICT.
But there is another factor: these teachers are extraordinarily committed and Holy Spirit's ICT programme includes a full-time IT teacher, Cahill O'Connell, and a collaborative style of teamteaching. Its success has so much to do with good teaching that one has to ask how much of the programme's positive impact is actually due to mentoring, rather than computing.
"It's more than the commitment to the child," Kelly insists. "ICT has given these kids something they have never had before - a new style of learning."
