| Sumario: | This article presents information on computer based instruction in the U.S. schools. The PLATO Elementary Mathematics and Reading Project brought about 100 sophisticated interactive terminals into over 40 classrooms, involving as many teachers and upward of 1,000 students over a two-year period. It provided courseware in two basic skills areas, reading lessons for grades 1 and 2, and math lessons for grades 4 to 6. Teachers were found to have a powerful effect on the process and outcome of the implementation of the program, with actual time students spent on-line diverging widely between and within classrooms, as well as over time. This was unexpected, for all teachers were self-selected, volunteering to provide a hospitable environment for the demonstration, more important, student access was centrally regulated. The influence of teachers' attitudes and perceptions was even more pronounced on the way they solved the problem of having two curricular streams flow through their rooms. The courseware was not equally compatible with all classroom programs, and all teachers had to integrate the computer-based curriculum with their own.
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