A Parent’s Guide To Technology (NAPSA)—Equipping their kids for school can be daunting, especially for parents, when the lines between what their teenagers want, what they need, and what schools require are blurred. For those faced with school tool decisions, experts from Texas Instruments, a market leader in education technology, and T3Teachers Teaching with Technology™, a leading professional development organization for teachers in more than 25 countries, offer some guidelines for parents. * Contact the school for information on the types of technology your teenager will be using in the classroom. Also, check the supply list for information on what technology is recommended or required for your teen this school year. * Find out what devices are “outlawed” in schools. Often cellular phones, pagers or any devices that make noise are restricted. Teens want them; teachers don’t. * Consider the learning benefit your teens will gain from technological tools. Can the device be used both in and out of school? Is it a good value? * Consider your teen’s interest in this technology. Does he or she want a handheld for school, or for downloading MP3s and playing games? Will it be a distraction during school hours? One of the most pervasive forms of technology for students is handheld graphing technology, which has typically been required and utilized in most math andscience classes, and on national standardized tests, such as the SAT. Many of today’s graphing units even offer the capability to add applications and functions for other subjects including foreign languages, social studies and English. For example, the newest member of the TI family of products is the TI-83 Plus Silver Edition. This “cool” new handheld companion features more than nine times the memory and 2.5 times the speed of the best-selling TI-83 Plus, the handheld device most widely used by high school students. With room for up to 94 educational, recreational and organizational applications, the T1-83 Plus Silver Edition comes power-packed with nine applications, including: The Periodic Table of Elements, an information-rich graphic representation of the 109 elements and important facts on each; StudyCards™ Viewer, for the review of electronic flashcard stacks in a numberof subjects; Organizer, for keeping students’ schedules and important addresses handy; and CellSheet™, for spreadsheet functionality, which may need to be downloaded from the TI Web site. Additional applications can be downloaded to the TI-83 Plus Silver Edition from the TI Web site. Many are available free of charge and others are available for purchase. For more information on the TI family of products and the TI-83 Plus Silver Edition, visit http:/ education.ti.com.
