Nursery World - I think, therefore I am

HAL, an advanced thinking computer from Arthur C Clarke's novel 2001, made disastrous choices when given conflicting information. In 1950, Alan Turing invented the Turing test, which has been the ultimate test for whether a computer can really think or not: can a human have a chat using text with a human and a computer, and be able to distinguish between the two? So far, no computer has passed the Turing test, and there are no advanced thinking machines like HAL. Until then, can non-thinking technology develop thinking skills in children? I believe so.

So far, no computer has passed the Turing test, and there are no advanced thinking machines like HAL. Until then, can non-thinking technology develop thinking skills in children? I believe so.

'Thinking skills' is a nebulous term, but consider higher-order thinking: creativity, enquiry, prediction, speculation. Browse these ideas to get you started.

* Art and ICT: Scan in some art the children have created, open it in a paint program, and let them paint on top of it. Try painting over photographs (such as clown faces), or let children continue to develop their print-outs, for example with stamping. For more ideas, visit www.hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk/ict_art/ideas/foundation.htm. The best paint program is Revelation Natural Art from Logotron, offering natural paint tools, and three different levels.

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