Bridgeville Area News published a story about third graders at South Fayette Elementary who use handhelds for learning. Titled SF Students Utilizing Latest Technology in Classroom, the article tells how Pennsylvania teacher Scott Sundgren used a $10,000 grant to purchase 30 Zire 72s for his classroom. The school will be assessing the effect of handhelds on students:

Throughout the year, the district will evaluate the students' progress -- especially in their writing skills – and determine how effective Palms are in a classroom setting.

It sounds like Scott is slowly easing his students into handheld computing. Since mid-September they have been using them for an hour a day. "As the school year progresses, Sundgren will write-up assignments on his Palm and 'beam' them to his students." Also as the school year progresses, I hope that Scott will include information on his Digital Classroom website about his use of handhelds. I'd also love to read about how the evaluations turn out.

By the way, I think the phrase in the article's first sentence, "Scott Sundgren's third grade class is unusually quiet," is an accurate description of most handheld-using classrooms because students are engaged and stay on task. Yippee for handhelds!