Fifth-graders in Richard J. Hyde Elementary School in Moon are completing their lessons in math, social studies, spelling and science without pencils and paper. Hyde and Moon Area Middle School are among more than 100 schools across Pennsylvania that have received $10,000 grants from the Department of Education to purchase handheld computers, plus software and training for use in elementary education.

The program is an offshoot of Technology Leadership Academies that were sponsored by the state of Pennsylvania and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation several years ago.

In the first two waves of the Hands on Learning program, more than 100 schools across the state received grants to integrate handheld computers into middle and secondary schools.

Hyde and the other elementary schools are the third wave of grants.

Fifth-grade teacher Elaine Mitchell said the small devices have really motivated her pupils.

"We've been using them since mid-November and the excitement and motivation are overwhelming," she said. "When I used to tell them to get out their notebooks and take notes for social studies, I could hear the groans. Now, they quickly get out their little computers to take notes."

She said parents at Hyde are excited, too. Many told her that their children asked for the handheld learning tools as Christmas gifts.

"Many of the children prefer to stay at their desks and do an activity with their computers rather than go outside for recess," she said.

One of the most popular uses for the learning devices is to beam messages or information to each other in the classroom.

Using a stylus, a special writing instrument, a pupil can write a message on the screen of a handheld computer. When finished, the pupil hits a send button and the message ends up on another pupil's or the teacher's screen.

At times, the teacher can beam all of the pupils simultaneously with an assignment.

"The buzz word for these kids is 'digital natives,' " said Kevin Conner, an instructor at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, explaining that the rest of us are called "digital immigrants" because we had to learn technology later in life, as though it were a second language.

Mr. Conner and Jana Baxter, coordinator of instructional media services for the Intermediate Unit, are training teachers and pupils in Paynter Elementary School in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District.

They are implementing a "Hands on Learning Program," which integrates handheld computers into the basic curriculum at elementary schools.

In addition to Hyde and Paynter schools, grants also were awarded to Avonworth Elementary in the Avonworth School District, Moss Side Middle School in Gateway School District; Aiken Elementary in Keystone Oaks; Foster Elementary in Mt. Lebanon, Avalon Elementary in Northgate and Johnston Elementary in Wilkinsburg.

"The purpose is to infuse technology for students into the classroom level," Ms. Baxter said.

In order to apply for Hands on Learning monies, which are funded with state dollars, a school's principal must participate in one of the technology leadership academies, Ms. Baxter said.