Landmark year for computers in state schools

The use of computers in Maltese state schools has reached a significant landmark.

Six years ago computers were introduced to Year 1 in primary schools to serve as a tool in teaching various subjects. They were rolled out to one higher grade every year after that.

This means that pupils who are now in Year 6 are the first generation to have used computers from `day one` of their schooling.

They will also be the first batch of students to all have a computer background when they enter secondary school next year. Form 1 teachers of ICT applications, which is a core subject, will for the first time be dealing with a whole classroom who are highly confident with a keyboard, monitor, mouse, disk and other hardware, and who can be led straight into learning new software.

Even this task should be easier for these students, having already been exposed to word processing, manipulating graphics and other skills.

About 30 per cent of pupils in state primary schools also have access to the internet, with that number rising every year in an ongoing project.

Internet access is already available in the computer labs of every state secondary school, using fast cable or ADSL connections.

And every secondary student has been given an e-mail address and a few megabytes of space on which to create his or her own website.

The computer labs are reported to be continuously in use, whether it is to teach ICT applications, SEC computer studies or mathematics, a subject in which ICT is part of the syllabus and which is making full use of the expanded learning potential offered by specially designed software.

Education officer Peter Vassallo said: "Children learn by doing and by thinking about what they do. Computers offer this possibility when the proper software is used under the careful supervision of the teacher.

"The children become active participants during the learning process as they have the opportunity to construct their own mathematical knowledge. Mathematics therefore becomes meaningful. This, in turn, stimulates the children to know and learn more about mathematics."

The Mathematics Section within the Curriculum Department has set up the Malta Mathematics Resource Centre website, offering teachers a variety of resources developed locally and links to the most renowned foreign sites.