Why laptops? 

Since the 1960's, technology and educational experts have talked and speculated about the powerful learning that could happen if students had personal access to technology that could allow them to research information, create their own work, and collaborate with others. Schools have been using computers in education for decades, usually within "labs" where classes could go to do computing work. Schools have talked about their student to computer ratio, aiming for 5:1 or 4:1 ratios.

Meanwhile, many experts in educational technology have talked about the many advantages that could happen in a 1:1 environment - a school in which students would have the same kind of personal, continual access to the power of computers and the internat that adults have in most offices and businesses.

The first school-wide 1:1 programs began in 1990, and their success has spread around the world. Many international and national schools, including many school districts and states in the US, UK and Australia (as well as other countries) have successfully implemented 1:1 programs.

Research by these schools and states, as well as independent organizations, has shown that such programs can enrich student learning through accessing the vast repositories of information on the internet, communicating with people around the world including peers and experts, and accessing and creating multimedia projects to engage different types of intelligences. Students in schools that run such programs often show greater interest in school and enthusiasm for learning, have fewer problems with attendance or turning in assignments, and often score higher on standardized tests of reading, writing, mathematical skills and more.