Rationale: Technology provides varied instructional strategies and learning experiences. Learning tasks can be designed to be relevant, challenging, and interesting for each student.

• Technology can exert a strong impact on learning through multimedia, wireless connection, the increasing accessibility of technology, and the "beginnings of a national information infrastructure"(Means and Olson, 1994).
• From Florida Schoolyear 2000 Project -- Middle School Subcommittee (1994):
  • Middle school students prefer active involvement, rather than passive recipiency; computers provide direct engagement of students.
  • Technology can be a tool for producing learning products and activities.
  • Technology can be used for interactions to occur at convenient times; schedules can be created to optimize time.
  • Electronic technology can serve as a tool for direct instruction and managing instruction.
  • Technology can provide immediate feedback, which teachers cannot always provide.
  • Technology can be used to link to national and international databases.
  • It helps meet the needs of diverse student populations with various learning styles.
  • It can be used as management system for teacher use.
  • Students can access and monitor their own performance, which provides a sense of autonomy needed by middle school students.
  • Students can progress at their own rate without being compared to others.
  • Technology can provide training for teachers, students, administrators, support staff and parents.
  • Schools can select and purchase software to meet their particular needs.
  • Technology can link school computers to home, library, public computers, etc., creating networks for students, parents, and the community.
• Computers make readily access to great bodies of information; students need to know how to access and retrieve information on demand (George and Alexander, 1993).
• Means and Olson (1994) suggest five reasons technology amplifies what teachers are able to do and what teachers expect from students:
  1. Teachers see complex assignments as feasible
  2. Technology seems to provide an entry point to content areas and inquires that may not otherwise be available until much later in students' academic careers.
  3. Technology can extend and enhance what the students are able to produce.
  4. Technology lends authenticity to tasks -- products are more polished; schoolwork seems real and important.
  5. Technology has given teachers the opportunity to become learners again.

The computer is by far the most comprehensive way for teachers and students to maintain records of student work. Keeping detailed records of students' work helps them become more responsible for how they use their time and gives students a role in their own academic development (Stevenson, 1992).

One model found to be effective in integration of technology into the curriculum is "Make it Happen" (Zorfass, Remz, & Persky, 1991). The three-year change process of this model focuses on:

1. Having teams of teachers design, implement, and evaluate a curriculum that uses computers to support inquiry-based learning.
2. Helping young adolescents expand their critical thinking abilities, cooperative learning behaviors, and positive attitudes toward learning through engaging in a computer-based curriculum.
3. Assisting principals and school-based management teams to create a supportive contact that facilitates computer integration across a school.

Of particular interest to North Carolina is Piedmont Open Middle School in Charlotte, where a Contemporary Technology Lab was established in 1990 in cooperation with Charlotte's business community. Students are able to use technologies currently available in the business community in the areas of robotics, engineering, research and design, hydraulics, and telecommunications (George & Alexander, 1993).

Means and Olsen (1994, pp. 17-18) found five features present in reformed classrooms, those where technology is used as a valuable tool:

1. An authentic, challenging task is the starting point -- tasks are completed for reasons other than just earning a grade; students see that activity is worthwhile in its own right.
2. All students practice advanced skills -- tasks involve basic and high level skills, with some requiring high level thinking.
3. Work takes place in heterogeneous, collaborative groups.
4. The teacher is a coach -- providing structure and actively supporting students' performances and reflections.
5. Work occurs over extended blocks of time -- it does not fall neatly into 50-minute periods for a set number of days.

Florida Schoolyear 2000 Project - Middle School Subcommittee (1994). Center for Educational Technology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida.

George, P. & Alexander, W. (1993). The Exemplary Middle School, 2^nd Edition. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Means, B. & Olsen, K. (1994). The link between technology and authentic learning. Educational Leadership, 51. (7) 15-18.

Stevenson, C. (1992). Teaching 10-14 Year Olds. White Plains, NY: Longman.

Zorafass, J., Remz, A., & Persky, S. (1991). A technology integration model for middle schools. T.H.E. Journal, 69-71.