`If children don’t learn how to use computers,” says 6th grader Steve Stapley, “they are going to be baked potatoes in a world of french fries.”
Steve’s tasty analogy is echoed by computer professionals.
“Internet is more than a computer option. It is a discovery process. It’s a computer tool that can transform the way we teach and the way we learn,” said Lou Harnisch, program coordinator for the Division of Educational Programs, Argonne National Laboratory, which is spearheading efforts in the Chicago area to train teachers in computer networking.
Steve is among 44 Homer Township students (4th, 5th and 6th graders in Hadley, Shilling and Goodings Grove schools) who used the computer and the Internet each week during the school year through a program for gifted students called Quest.
“The computer, linked to Internet, allowed us to sit in our classroom and have access to the world,” said Quest coordinator Joan Blackman.
Literally. Internet connects a variety of computer networks, and although there are some access restrictions, it allows any computer with a modem and access to an on-line service to be connected with any other similarly equipped computer. In the classroom, it makes for some pretty heady stuff.
“Internet is exciting. The sooner we can train teachers to use it, the sooner students are going to be off and running with its possibilities,” said Bob Gerencher, director of information services at Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Flossmoor.
“Via Internet, students can retrieve information from a source that’s timely by connecting to a global bulletin board on weather, environment or the game of chess,” explained Blackman, who received Internet training last year at Argonne. “Students can send messages anywhere in the world by e-mail and receive messages the same way. What’s exciting is that there are all kinds of educational programs on Electronic Schoolhouse and the Scholastic Network just waiting for us to get into.”
Said Quest student James Lunk about using Internet, “It’s great. We can talk to famous people, we can talk to students around the world, and we can get news, information about tons of stuff as it’s happening.”
He isn’t kidding. By the end of the school year, the Quest classroom looked a little like a think tank that had exploded–creative chaos. Everywhere were tidbits of student projects-in-progress. A quick browse around the classroom revealed the following items:
– “At 2:29 a.m. on Endeavor’s launch day, Aug. 18, 1994, later rescheduled, the crew took a group photo and ate dinner.” (Printout from NASA’s Daily Report bulletin board)
– An e-mail message from popular author R.L. Stine (creator of the Goosebumps series, among others), who thanks Quest kids for the story ideas they e-mailed to him. “Next year, R.L. Stine will be on Internet live and we’ll get to talk with him for an hour,” said student Jessica Fulton.
– Student Jessica Gillett displays an advertisement to run on Valentine’s Day 2050. It’s part of a project called “Time Magazine of the Future,” and it reads, “Get your spouse the best gift possible–a holographic heart dedicated to your one and only.”
Blackman explained how holographic hearts fit the Quest theme for the recently completed school year, “the future.”
“The magazine project was part of that,” she said. “The students used Printshop Deluxe software program and the research resources on Internet to design layouts and write articles for their magazine.”
Internet access was an integral part of the Quest classroom.
“Students on Internet communicate. And communicating is learning,” Blackman said. “For example, they have written letters, something we seem to have lost the knack of. They sought information from the source–from NASA, from Harvard, from a scientist at Argonne, wherever the source was. There are games that require imagination and problem solving. They are excited, and so am I.”
Even after 30 years of teaching?
“Absolutely,” she said. “During the last eight years, I’ve taught in the gifted program with the advantage of having computers for each student. I’m drawn to new ideas, new options. When our school installed cable television several years ago, I was able to tape educational programs and introduce them in class. Initially we used computers for word processing and as electronic workbooks. This year, we introduced Internet. If teachers have the chance to play with the computer, to not be intimidated by it, to just see what it can do, you’re going to see a lot of very excited teachers.”
Hoping to spread that excitement, the Educational Networking Consortium, a collaboration of eight school districts and institutions geographically selected to blanket the Chicago area, is hoping to provide teachers with access to the Internet and with training in how to use it.
According to Harnisch, classes for teachers will be offered this summer at six of the eight sites–Adler Planetarium, Chicago; Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne; Illinois Institute of Technology’s Rice Campus, Wheaton; Libertyville High School; Elmhurst Public School District U-205 (York High School); and Homewood-Flossmoor High School. Training is not yet scheduled at Community High School District 218, Oak Lawn, and Palatine Township High School District 211.
“Initially, we want to train trainers and ensure them access to the Internet from their school and from their home,” Harnisch said. “They will be educational pioneers. Later, we will expand and offer more simplified end-user classes. Right now, we need to help teachers learn Internet so they continue doing what they’ve always done–shape the future of learning.”
Last year’s Internet project required math, geography and science skills. America Online was the site for Scholastic Network’s “International Egg-a-Thon,” devised by Stewart Clemens, an educator in Cambridge, Mass.
Students from more than 300 schools in the United States, Canada, Russia, Japan, Scandinavia, China and Australia attempted to mail a raw egg to 12 schools in the group.
“We work in teams,” explained student Benjamin Thonar. “We have 30 minutes to devise a container that will house the egg unharmed. We only get to use certain stuff like straws, rubber bands, string and paper to pack it in. The box can’t be marked `fragile’ or anything. It must be sent through regular mail. Our mission is egg survival.”
Blackman explained, “The students collect data on the eggs received in the mail according to some pretty intricate guidelines, and we send in the results. The project developer in Massachusetts will compile and post the results on the Internet.”
Blackman’s students had received nine eggs intact and one, from Connecticut, that arrived, well, scrambled.
“We will examine the contents to try to determine what caused the failure, and we’ll confer with our colleagues on Internet about it,” Blackman said.
Her students can’t wait.
———-
For information on the consortium’s Internet Training Programs for Teachers or for a schedule of training classes offered in July and August, contact Argonne National Laboratory, Building 223/DEP, 9700 Cass Ave., Argonne, Ill. 60439. Call Argonne at 708-252-1794 or fax to 708-252-3193. For information on training programs for teachers scheduled in August, September and October at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, contact Bob Gerencher at 708-799-3000, ext. 123.
Quest program coordinator Joan Blackman’s e-mail address is Joan B842@aol.com She welcomes correspondence with other teachers.
