As a student who is preparing to be an elementary school teacher, I was very interested in Gardner  Campbell’s presentation. For the elementary education  master’s program at UMW, we are required to pick a specialization for our graduate year and do an action research project related to that specialization. I will be starting my graduate year this fall,  and I am hoping to do instructional technology as my specialization. With that being said, how cool would it be to have elementary school students create their own personal cyberinfrastructure?!

In the presentation, Campbell mentioned that learning is developmental and young students need a mentor to help them  make their best choices. Young students could definitely perform the higher level thinking tasks that are involved in creating  a personal  cyberinfrastructure as long as they receive the scaffolding they need. One of the audience members at the presentation even said his nine year old daughter has her own blog. When checking my email this morning, I saw an article  about a young boy who has created a popular iPad application. I am optimistic that young students can rise to the challenge and create endless possibilities.