The Resource Magazine For Apple, Atari, and Commodore ...

2O COMPUTE! September/October. 198O. Issue 6
Finally, we shall report on a group of 39 third
grade students who scored the lowest in the Iowa
Tests in the area of punctuation. In the fall of
1979, based on national norms, the median score
for this group placed it at the 20th percentile for
a grade equivalent score of 2.2.
When this group was re-tested in the spring
of 1980, its median score for punctuation placed
it at the 80th percentile for a grade equivalent
score of 5.3. Academically, this group of students
gained a total of 31 months over a period ol 7
months.
Inasmuch as our elementary student support
centers played such a central role in the shaping
of this microcomputer instructional project, i( would
seem appropriate to explain something about the
operation of these centers.
During the 1979-80 school year, our Concord,
Cornelia, Creek Valley, and Wooddalc elementary
schools housed student support centers. By the fall
of 1980, all of our elementary schools will have
them. Here is how these centers function:
Each one is supervised by a paraprolessional, and
instruction there is not necessarily remedial in
nature. Students arc scheduled into the center accord
ing to specific instructional needs as determined by
their classroom teachers. A student may begin work
in the center at any time during the year, and con
tinue until a designated sequence of lessons has been
completed.
Different kinds of instructional materials and
equipment (kits, tape recorders, etc.) are available
in the center. Nevertheless, the microcomputer has
been the major engine of instruction. It is no! hard
to understand why.
Unlike many other machines, the microcomputer
is not a special function device. The typical piece
of hardware is dedicated to perform a specific
function. Thus, a motion picture projector shows films,
a record player plays records, and so on. Not so
with the computer. Sometimes called a "smart"
machine, (his sophisticated device needs only to be
told what to do in order to carry out a broad range
of tasks. It can help manage a business enterprise,
assist doctors in diagnosing illnesses, and play a
strong game of chess. As our present study shows,
it can help students learn effectively.
What sets the microcomputer apart from its more
ponderous ancestors? The expression compulcr-on-achip
(ells the story. The ability of modern technology
to miniaturize its creations means that something small
can nevertheless be incredibly powerful. A microcom
puter such as the PET weighs only about forty pounds,
uses no more energy than a 150-watt light bulb,
and can be plugged into an ordinary electrical
outlet as you would a radio or phonograph. Although
it costs no more than a good television set, its ver
satility, for all practical purposes, is limited only
by the skill and imagination of those who know how to
use it. Within the field of education, its capabilities
are only just beginning to be explored.
What do students think of the microcomputer.''
Our student support center personnel arc unanimous
in their verdict: The students love it! Indeed,
never was remedial instruction sought with such
eagerness as when it was offered by way of the
microcomputer.
Teachers, too, for the most part, have been
supportive of this mode of instruction - increasingly
so as time has gone on. Several have commented
favorably on the tangible benefits they have observed
as a result of their students having worked with micros.
Although parents have not been queried formally
as to their views on the matter, a number of them
have voluntarily expressed their enthusiasm for the
use of microcomputers as an additional aid to learning.
So where do we go from here? Let us tentatively
offer these concluding thoughts:
The education establishment (of which we are
bona fide members) will take most kindly to micro
computers when these wonderful instruments are
seen as supplemental to other forms of instruction,
not as replacements for them. This means that
manufacturers and publishers alike would be well
advised to promote micros as being particularly
useful to teachers in the areas of remediation,
enrichment, special education, and homebound
instruction. Implication: Any comprehensive and
relatively expensive arrangement requiring fullscale
classroom participation may be a difficult
package to sell to educators.
Mastery learning, including competency-based
teaching and testing, may very well be an idea
whose time is rapidly coming if, indeed, ii is not
already here. Implication: It is possible that as
school people general])' begin to grasp some of the
implications of microcomputers for education, ii
will be seen tht micros may be fundamental to the
successful application of mastery learning on a broad
scale.
No one, of course, can clearly foresee what is
going to happen. But all of us who are impressed
by the mighty potential of (he microcomputer would
do well not to repeat the mindless optimism of (he
1960's when (do you remember?) teaching machines
first blossomed. In those halcyon days, equipment
vendors rushed to market with hardware that needed
only programs in order to teach anything. Teachers,
it was cheerfully assumed, would quicklv fill this
need by creating instructional hearts for tin woodsmen.
Alas, this did not happen. Implication: We should
carefully avoid making this mistake again.
Finally, this observation:
A famous educator once said, "'Madam, we
guarantee results - or we return the boy!"
In our dawning new age of customer-oriented
education, what is more likely to be returned now
is the machine. if?