Our proposed plan for Boulder elementary students calls for the maximum integration of technology into a course curricula. Through the use of computer based instruction (CBI) and computer assisted instruction (CAI) programs students will gain a deeper understanding of the subject and eventually prefer the CAI environment to the traditional classroom . An analysis of the effectiveness of such programs was performed by the university of Michigan and revealed that CBI programs raised elementary students test scores by .47 standard deviations as well as reduced the instruction time needed to learn the lesson when compared to the control group.(1) They also found that students attitudes towards math improved by .1 standard deviations. Since these were standardized tests without the assistance of any calculator or computer, it demonstrates the ability of the math program to teach the students the necessary skills. It is therefore our recommendation that the school use educational software to teach mathematics, specifically those licenced as open source to keep their costs down. 

Advantages:
The most notable advantage of CBI programs is their ability to adjust the curriculum based upon an individual student’s weaknesses. This allows for the student to learn any remedial topics holding them back from grasping the lesson plan. This could keep some students out of remedial classes and keep them on a normal curriculum. For students that traditionally found math, or school, boring, there are CBI programs that use games to teach mathematical concepts. Educational games such as ‘tux of math command’ use the traditional drill and practice technique in an arcade environment to quiz and familiarize students with the new material.(2)


Disadvantages:
Since open source software is free, the only cost to the school would be the actual computer. 
That and the cost of the operating system if the school chooses not to switch to linux. Another disadvantage of using cbi programs is that teachers need to learn how to use the software.  Edubuntu was developed to allow teachers with limited technical knowledge and skills to set-up a computer lab, or establish an on-line learning environment, in an hour or less, and then administer that environment (3). 





1. Kulik et al., 1985 J. Kulik, C.-L. Kulik and R.L. Bangert-Drowns, Effectiveness of computer-based education in elementary pupils, Computers in Human Behavior 
2. https://wiki.kubuntu.org/Edubuntu/AppGuides/tuxmath
3 http://opensourceschools.org.uk/edubuntu-educational-linux-system.html