Twenty Things to Do With a Computer. Artificial Intelligence Memo Number 248.

Ideas about computers in education are usually limited to transactions of a conversational form between students and machines. Computers, however, can do many other things and it is only inertia and prejudice, not lack of ideas, which stand in the way of broadening the range of computer applications in schools. Several examples, over half of which have already been implemented in elementary schools, are sufficient to prove this point. Computers can be used to move a machine called a Turtle in geometric patterns, play games, draw diagrams, make movies, program musical instruments and compose music, computerize erector sets, make light shows, write poetry, teach physics, and control puppets. People are inclined to think these projects are expensive, but they are usually cheaper than ones involving teletype machines; such computation would cost about $30 per child annually for one hour of computer time per week, if several hundred students were involved. (PB)