CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.2.1 The Computer as A Cross Curricular Tool
According to Greenwood (1993) when computers were introduced in schools in early 80' s were used for supplementing existing teaching methods in curriculum subjects such as English and Mathematics. Their effectiveness was very limited due to both lack of suitable software and a very real shortage of computers; most activities can only be performed on a 1: 1 basis or in small group situations.Itis now common to see computers in use for subjects ranging from Music, History, Geography and Languages, through to drawing and all the Sciences. The more computers are used by children, the more they gain keyboard and other computer skills, adding to their confidence in using such machines for many other purposes.
Computers help pupils to learn mathematics by developing a logical way of thinking, perhaps testing their own theories by using spreadsheets and other computer based tools, rather than by the more traditional of repetitious "parrot-fashion" learning. By the age of
16, pupils are expected to have covered the use of computers in the following five
"strands" of capability: communication with word and music, by using packages such as word processors and desk-top publishing systems, incorporating tables and graphs in their work; the handling and retrieval of information, using databases; modeling of real life situations, for example by using a spreadsheet to simulate business performance and perform "what-if analyses; measurement and control using a computer; study the social, economic and ethical implications of Information Technology (Greenwood, 1993).
2.2.2 Computer Traps and Pitfalls
In most of the time, computers are very reliable and can be an extremely powerful tool for helping the student to perfonn all sorts of complex work. A natural consequence of this can be that a computer user becomes very reliant on such a machine and as this happens, there is a danger that if a computer does happen to fail, a lot of work can suddenly be lost forever, causing immense problems to the poor unsuspecting user.
Whilst this may sound a little frightening, once the reasons for such problems are understood, it is easy to adopt simple procedures which help minimize these risks. One of the most common problems encountered by anyone using a computer is loss of data.
Having typed a masterpiece into the computer's word processor, if the power then fails before the work has been saved to disk, everything will be lost without a warning (Greenwood, 1993).
To prevent this happen, it is necessary to save the work to a disk file as the work continues. This is a simple discipline to adopt, but what happens if the computer's own hard disk fails? Data should always be backed-up at the end of every computing
"session" onto another medium, such as the floppy disk or tape drive. There are many different types of backup procedures that can be adopted to overcome these problems. It is up to the user to decide which is most suitable, like data backups. All data files are copied each time. This takes less time and space than a full backup and still backs up the user's all important data files. Before anyone uses any computer for serious work, they should satisfy themselves that effective backup procedures are used (Greenwood, 1993).
2.2.3 Computer Viruses
A virus is nothing more than another computer program, usually written by a talented, bored software engineer. The virus attaches itself to any program run on an "infected machine". If the program is on a floppy disk and the disk is transferred to another machine, that machine now becomes infected. There are literally hundreds of known viruses, some are relatively harmless, causing silly messages to occasionally appear on the screen whilst others, such as "stealth" viruses can be particularly nasty and difficult to detect and to deal with. Such viruses are written to do unpredictable things to the computer, such as erasing all data at a pre-determined time or by causing insidious corruption of data in files (Greenwood, 1993).
The answer is two-fold. First, ensure that all incoming software is "Virus-Checked" using a reputable and up-to-date anti-virus package. Secondly, it is recommended to all users that they use software from recognized sources, and do not swap disks with friends or acquaintances. They may unwittingly be giving you a hidden present (Greenwood, 1993).
As Greenwood (1993), stated that in England the National Curriculum Council recommended that each school should have at least one computer in every classroom. In the case of previously disadvantaged schools in South Africa, they can start small by having one computer or two computers per school. One can be used to do administration work and the other one can also be used to do school work. Educators who are not computer literate can be encouraged to attend computer courses, so that they will be able to use computers that are available to the school. The schools that are planning to start computer studies should be made aware of the problems they might experience in
computer studies. They should be made aware of the computer virus and how to deal with it. The learners should be encouraged to visit sites that are educational.