How Can 425 Students Learn to Use 1 Microcomputer? A Success StoryAuthor(s): Lynn C. HartSource: The Arithmetic Teacher, Vol. 31, No. 5 (January 1984), pp. 16-17Published by: National Council of Teachers of MathematicsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41190886 .

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How Can 425 Students Learn to Use 1 Microcomputer? A Success Story

By Lynn C. Hart

The K-7 public school where I am a full-time teacher of seventh-grade mathematics and science has had a microcomputer for one year. The school system had provided one com- puter for every elementary school in the district, with two conditions. First, one teacher from each school must participate in a graduate course in BASIC programming and computer literacy that carries five quarter-hours of credit. Second, the school must offer minicourses on the computer to its sixth- and seventh-grade students. After completing the five-hour course during the summer and receiving the title "computer teacher-in-resi- dence," I arranged for the delivery of the microcomputer to our school. That was one year ago.

During that fall after the delivery, I met after school several times with the administrators to develop the cur- riculum for the minicourse we planned to offer after Christmas vaca- tion. The course was prepared and taught to an eager group of fifteen seventh graders during the winter and fifteen sixth graders during the spring. I returned to school this fall, however, with the disappointing realization that except for those fifteen sixth graders now in my seventh-grade mathemat- ics classes, no one in the entire school had received any instruction on how to use the computer. All the many

Lynn C. Hart is formerly a teacher of mathe- matics and computer literacy at the junior high school level in Frankfurt, Germany, and Dekalb County, Georgia. She is currently a graduate research assistant in mathematics education at Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303.

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hours when I was performing my du- ties as a full-time teacher, the comput- er had collected dust in the library - except for a handful of youngsters who periodically sat down on their own during their library time and tried to learn by doing. I was appalled. I had been provided with the equipment I needed to give our students comput- er experiences, but where would I find the time? I was with students all day, and the only students I could teach were those in my computer minicourse. I needed help, and my students supplied it. Within three weeks of implementation of the pro- gram we developed, more that 25 per- cent of all the students at our school had received fifteen to thirty minutes of instruction on how to operate the computer. This article describes the program we developed.

A Beginning Initially, I met briefly with the fifteen students who had taken the mini- course and explained my desire to have more students work on the com- puter. I hoped that they would orga- nize and develop a program using me as a resource. They thought about such a system, and we agreed to meet again in a few days.

On the following Monday we recon- vened. Everyone was abuzz with ideas and plans. I suggested the elec- tion of a leader and a secretary, which was promptly done, and effectively removed myself as the center of the group. Gradually, the students looked to me less and less for guidance and approval. If this project truly was to be theirs, and not just another task for

me to manage, I had to give them the power to make decisions immediate- ly.

After a second brief meeting (about twenty minutes each time), the outline of the plan was ready. It needed only administrative approval, and the stu- dents would begin work the following week.

Identify the Objectives The students should be able to oper- ate the computer effectively - turn it off and on, handle the floppy disks, call up programs, use the special keys, get in and out of programs, clear the screen, and so on. We agreed to allow students to play games only after they had been instructed in the computer's operation.

After careful discussion we identi- fied the following objectives as rea- sonable to cover in a thirty-minute session with three students: 1. Locate floppy disk and insert it

properly into the disk drive. 2. Turn on computer and monitor. 3. Run a program. 4. Stop a program. 5. Change from one program to an-

other. 6. Use the catalog. 7. Use the RETURN key to indicate

end of input. 8. Type the word HOME to clear the

screen. 9. Properly end a session with the

computer by turning off the com- puter and monitor and putting the disk in an envelope in the appropri- ate box.

Arithmetic Teacher

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I should mention that the fifteen students had learned more in the mini- course than they were teaching to their fellow students. These fifteen student instructors had learned how to initialize disks, copy programs, write simple programs in BASIC, and write complicated programs in low- resolution graphics in BASIC; they also were fairly well versed in the history of the computer, the compo- nents of the computer, and the eco- nomic impact of the computer.

Set Up a Work Schedule Members of the group identified time during the week when they could be out of class for thirty minutes. Then they developed a master schedule by which one or two students could pro- vide instruction on the computer for a thirty-minute time slot once a week. The final plan was for two thirty- minute sessions from 2:00 to 3:00 each afternoon. They drew up a ditto mas- ter with a weekly schedule, and I ran off several copies.

Scheduling Students to Receive Instruction The group decided to begin with the younger students. They expressed a need to build their confidence and expertise as instructors before teach- ing their peers. Each grade level was given a priority week when they could request as much time as they desired from the sessions (kindergarten - week one; first grade - week two; sec- ond grade - week three; etc.). The weekly sign-up sheets were then sup- plied for each grade level, and the completed sheets were posted on the computer cabinet. The students who were teaching were solely responsible for contacting teachers and arranging the scheduling of their students.

Physical Considerations Originally, the computer was placed in the library. This location created problems, because so many students were interested in learning about the computer that many were abandoning their library work and observing the classes. The group located an empty

work room and now moves the com- puter to that room for instruction from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. During the remaining part of the day it remains in the media center for unassisted use.

Trouble-Shooting The group tried to identify any prob- lems they could think of before we began. For example, they decided -

1. that teachers could accompany their students for instruction;

2. that if time slots were available, students could sign up without preregistering (this policy created chaos until computer passes were made for the teachers to issue: no pass - no class);

3. that if the computer is in use, then students must return to their class.

After the first week a problem-solv- ing meeting was necessary. The group identified difficulties in the system and brainstormed solutions. This pro- cedure will be ongoing. As new prob- lems or concerns arise, the student instructors will have to meet and re- solve them. A recent case involved what to do when the student instruc- tor is absent. They asked me to ap- point a substitute. I reminded them that working out the problems was

their responsibility. They developed a plan by which substitutes are used on a rotating basis.

Closing Remarks The process of developing the pro- gram has been a good experience for my students. Not only has it required cooperation in varying degrees, it has provided experience with organizing and planning, identifying problems, choosing solutions, and thinking with flexibility. My students are speaking of when to use "CTRL C" or "text mode" with as much ease as when they speak of addition. The depth of their understanding was increased by their teaching.

It should be noted that I am not teaching in a school for gifted stu- dents. My computing group is not composed of the top fifteen students in the seventh grade. Students of all ability levels are motivated by, and gravitate toward, the computer. It has been inspiring for me to see students who have been floundering in my mathematics classroom busily punch- ing away on the computer keyboard. The goal of our group is to reach every student in the school by June so that 15 students, 1 microcomputer, and 1 teacher can reach 425 kids, w

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January 1984 17

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