Although inappropriate computer experiences emphasizing things more than people are frequently introduced into elementary school classrooms by inadequately trained administrators and teachers, computers can be appropriately used to liberate or empower thinking abilities. Certainly, computers should be used for specific reasons, but "appropriate" should be understood as a metaphor for emerging "good" teaching methodologies and adaptation of class content. When teachers begin to learn to use new programs in their classrooms, they reveal themselves as learners. Thus, students have the opportunity to learn with a learning adult. When learning is the model for what adults do in the classroom, then the computer provides a richness of possibilities; in the student-technology-teacher relationship, a unique opportunity implicitly exists. Computers are not teacher-remedial, nor should they be intrusive. Computer use should be internalized by the teacher and the classroom dynamics into an already-excellent pedagogy. In essence, appropriate computer use should be viewed as a methodological hybrid, seen as an important media only when and where it offers significant instructional experiences. Teachers should have the time, in-service experience, and the security within the school system to use the computer to create a milieu in which students become hypothesis-testers with critical thinking abilities, and not fixed reality constructions. Appended materials illustrate the use of the computer to facilitate thought and describe various appropriate uses. (RH)