10 ed-tech tools of the 70s, 80s, and 90s
We don’t know about you, but sometimes the eSchool News
editors are amazed to hear about the ed-tech students use to learn in schools these days: mobile
gaming apps, 3D printing, and robots? Many of the editors still remember the prestige of
walking to the front of the class and writing on the chalkboard with colored chalk.
To celebrate technologies of the past, the editors of eSchool News have compiled a list of the
education technologies we and our teachers used back in the day–you know, before the internet
even existed.
Can you think of an ed-tech tool not on the list? What was your favorite classroom tool when
you were in school?
(Next page: Ed-tech of the 70s, 80s, and 90s)
[Listed in chronological order of date created]
1. Overhead projectors (early 1960s): When a teacher used to roll out the massive overhead
projector, it was almost like watching a movie in class! It was always a special day when the
lights went down and then something magical would happen: the teacher would use
transparencies. You mean you can just wipe off the marker?! These were crazy times.
2. Cassette recorders (early ‘70s-late ‘90s): Now there are free apps that can record just about
anything. But when we had an oral exam, or really needed to prove our foreign language
competency, out came the cassette recorders. Just remember-if you mess up the tape, you can
always use a pencil to roll the film back in place!
3. Floppy disks (Mid ‘70s-early 2000s): Talk about ruggedized! The first time we used floppies
for computer work, we could practically bend them in half without any damage–the case was
even paper-based. Then came the virtually indestructible hard-shelled disks. Nowadays there are
USBs. Okay. Those might be cooler. You could never attach your floppy to a key chain.
4. Oregon Trail (V.1- ’74): Nicole needs to stop whining and help pull the oxen across the river.
We know this game was supposed to teach problem-solving skills and real-world reasoning, but
what wagon can’t carry more than 100 pounds of bear meat? Totally not your fault that your
entire party died from exhaustion. Right? Right?!
5. Lemonade Stand (V.1- ’79): Why are your sales declining even though you added more
lemonade signs than last week? Wait, how do you multiply 20 cents by 62? Lemonade Stand was
one of the first educational math games created for elementary students. To this day we can’t
walk by a child’s lemonade stand without trying to reason how weather and price points will
affect their daily profits…and that’s probably not normal.
6. Dry-erase boards (Made in the mid-‘70s and popularized in classrooms in the ‘90s): Chalk
allergies were back then what peanut allergies are today. Dry-erase boards were all the rage in
the ‘90s as teachers realized that the days of chalk-handprint-butt were coming to a close. Too
bad Kevin the class clown would switch the dry-erase markers with permanent markers—always
a good prank.
7. Reader Rabbit (V.1- ’86): We essentially learned how to spell in front of a computer. There
wasn’t a day in early elementary school when we weren’t trying to win spelling races against a
seemingly invincible turtle. tur·tle /ˈtərtl/
8. TI-80 graphing calculator (’95): 980 kHz proprietary CPU; 7 KB RAM; 64 x 68 pixels; no
link abilities, and not designed for programming. Guys in our high school math class used to arm
curl these gray bricks of advanced ‘mobile computing,’ and our parents had to take out a second
mortgage to pay for one.
Read more by Meris Stansbury
9. Tamagotchi (’96), Giga Pet (’97), and Nano Pet (’97): Remember the ‘This egg is your
baby’ project? Many teachers in the late ‘90s were hip to our technology and said we could use
our fake digital pets and aliens instead of eggs. Gameplay included feedings, clean ups, and
constant attention. We can’t remember why we thought this was fun.
10. Alta Vista (’98) and Ask Jeeves (’99): High school was when we started going to the
library to learn something called “media skills,” which was an entirely new concept, considering
the internet was still at dial-up and consisted mainly of chat rooms your parents didn’t know
about. Technically we were only supposed to use Alta Vista, but sometimes we’d break the rules
and Ask our buddy, Jeeves.