A step ahead

It starts at infancy: Babies are now introduced to computerkeyboards through infant software.

By the age of 10, some kids are so technologically savvy thatthey're creating their own Web sites and teaching their teachers andparents how to download software.

"The kids know more than me," said Claudia Braithwaite, a first-grade teacher at Washington School in Evanston. "Some third-gradersjust showed me how to create a booklet on a computer when I washaving trouble."

Computers are transforming education for tens of thousands ofChicago area students, most of whom know their way around technologybetter than teachers.

Many teachers are trying to catch up by taking courses to learnmore about computers and software. Still others, like Braithwaite,are taking their students on computer-related field trips to TheChildren's Museum at Navy Pier, where kids recently checked out newMicrosoft science software.

Computers have helped both high- and low-ability students learn ina way that is "richer, better connected and more applicable tosubsequent learning," according to Thomas C. Reeves, a professor atthe University of Georgia who has studied the impact of computers onlearning.

Students say they wish their teachers used computers more.

"One of my teachers used a PowerPoint presentation to show ussomething_it was incredible and it made it fun," said Sam Rosen,referring to the computerized version of the overhead projection."But I think a lot of teachers are scared of the computer."

Sam, a freshman at Niles West High School in Skokie, should know.

The 14-year-old makes "computer house calls," helping teacherswith their computers for $15 an hour. He also works for Niles West,replacing computer hardware and fixing cables for $8 an hour. In hisspare time, he has made about $2,000 creating Web sites.

"Computers are a wonderful way to make learning more fun_the bestteachers realize that," said Sam, of Lincolnwood.

Thanks to technology, Sam doesn't even type his school papersanymore. He uses voice-recognition software and dictates into aheadset microphone. The computer recognizes the words and creates thepaper for him.

Many kids are so enthusiastic about computers that parents limitthe amount of time they're online to ensure that they still play andread books.

"We make sure our kids only spend 15 or 20 minutes a day on thecomputer," said Kathy Readyoff-Jones, 37, of Evanston.

But her boys, Joshua, 9, and Gabriel, 7, often ask for morecomputer time.

Many children are teaching themselves computer programminglanguage. Bryant Smith, 10, taught himself programming codes frombooks he checked out from the Oak Park Public Library.

Now, not only does he have his own Web page,www.bryant.allhere.com, but he also has the potential to earn moneyfrom his Web site sponsors, including Barnes & Noble and AmericanGreetings.

Every time someone clicks on some of the sponsor links, Bryantgets a few cents. He says he's just happy to have kids checking outhis site, which includes games, music and movie clips.

"I like having people know more about it and being entertained bysomething I built," said Bryant, a fifth-grader at Beye School in OakPark.

Jonathan Berger, 17, a senior at the Illinois Math and ScienceAcademy, uses wireless technology to do homework on his laptop from a24-hour-a-day Internet connection in his dorm room. For years, hetaught his parents to use their computer. Now that he's getting readyto go to Stanford University, his parents are worried, he said.

"My parents are getting a lot better at it, but they keep askingme, `What are we going to do now that you're leaving?' " Jonathansaid.