Databases, Spreadsheets, and Presentation Software

I can't help but think that any student who had access to some of the very cool software applications we looked at on the apple site coupled with the right instructor or person showing them how to use that software effectively...well, wouldn't they feel like a kid in a candy store. Some of those applications are so cool! Many of them could really be used to help open the doorway to a new universe for a student -- a new way of seeing how information can be used to make something very visual, say, or very colorful or meaningful in a musical sense...or countless other ways. Software applications, databases, presentation software, spreadsheets -- these all, when used in a creative, integrative type of way, can make anything (or so it seems!) more engaging...which seemingly would help students make more connections and more meaning. The Tap Into Learning article pointed out that "knowledge is constructed uniquely and individually, in multiple ways, through a variety of authentic tools, resources, experiences and contexts." If that is true, and I would concur with researchers and educators who say it is, then technology and software apps can help students of any age construct, define, and redefine what it is that is meangingful.