ABSTRACT
Melvin L, Zeddies 1854 Pacific 8each Drive San Diego CA 92109
Developing ,a computer system from kits was a very stimulating educational experience for high school and junior high school studeJ?ts.
There were, however, problem area~: fund~ng,
bureaucratic red tape, and a mult~tude of skeptics. Overcoming these problems lead to the formation of a self developing group of students who were anxious and very able to solve problems in the administration of schools, thp i.nstrllctional programs, career development, while they attempted to create a new computer science instructional program.
Personal computer systems available in kit form provide a foundation upon which to challenge the educational programs in o,ur schools, and human, as well as technological change.
The recent development, and marketing of personalized computer system kits is destined to force changes upon educational institutions that have not' been remotely anticipated at this time. teachers and administrators to become familiar with the language and thought patterns of the.
computer age student. We are not only referr~ng
to high schools, and college levels, we are including junior high schools, and elementary schools, even the kindergarten child will be were more informative that we antici'pated.
We drew up listings of two systems; the
Our dream system contained: The,ALTAIR 8800, 20K RAM, 3 RS232 serial interfaces, fan, vectored intercept, and a cassette tape interface, two CT~1024's, each with a manual cursor control, of freeing ourselves from the timesharing system we were presently uSing, and paying for at a rate COnvinced the principal to authorize the purchase with instructional funds, thereby avoiding the EDP Department and prodUCing a new procedure. Now the problem of identifying a particular sum of money for such a ourchase was approached.
In California there are two types of cate-gories for the purchase of school items, capital outlay and instructional supplies. Generally speak-ing capital outlay is used for permanent, non- . consumable items, while instructional supply mon~es
are used for the purchase of items that are con-sumable and/or changed in the instructional program.
We convinced the principal that since our system would come in kit form i t should be classed as in-structional supply, as are other kits, such as radi~,
calculators, etc., that the industrial arts depart-ment purchased of a regular basis. He agreed to the instructional supply argument and we then proceeded to obtain "spending rights" to as much instr1lcti~nal
supply funds as possible. We traded with other schools who had over spent in a category where we had underspent, etc. I'le also traded, teacher assistant time for instructional funds"and ex-:,;lored every possible source of funding short of a Federal Fundina proposal. The sources of funds we considered included; curriculum consultants, inno-vatj:on grants, P.T.A., industrial sources! fund raisina activities of all types, and trad~ng away
FIRST COMPUTER FAIRE PROCEEDINGS BOX 1579, PALO ALTO CA 94302 PAGE 171 SI'ITPC CT-1024' s. These kits went together without own maintenance. The only problem we could
difficulty and worked the first time they were envision was developing an ongoing supply of fired up. \'Ie now began to use these (CT-1024) technician/students to insure the well being of the for I/Os on the timesharing system, and allowed system. This problem was solved by developing a the students to check them out over night and small group of students into certificated maintenance/
also over the weekends. The only complaint came operators. The training cycle was to include
from parents who were concerned because the student several students from each grade, with the sophopmores who had checked the terminal out would arrive home working with experienced juniors and seniors. These with a group of students who did not leave until students upon completion of a specific training the early morning hours. They would keep the phone program were to be licensen ~s svste~ maintenance/
line in use from the time they arrived until the operators. Only licensed personnel were allowed to parents forced a system shutdown, sometimes as perform diagnostic work on the system, pull boards, as late as 1:00-2:00 A.M. Our SWTPC terminals, replace components, and checkout the system.
in spite of being carried around and banged about, The original authorization for this course continued to function quite well. After two years was given by the principal of the school, however, of operation, we have only had to replace a few the central office personnel were reluctant to of the keyboard switches, everything else remains authorize it because it did not fit into mathematics, in operation without modification of any kind. science, industrial arts, and a computer science area
Several months later our ALTAIR 8800 arrived, (and still does not exist at this time). We even and with great fanfare and the taking of pictures, tried to have our course considered as a career it was unpacked and looked at with great anticipation~ducation experiment, but that was also turned vie even put the front panel together and propped down. We were finally considered to be inter-it in the case so we could see what "inter-it" really disciplinary in nature and therefore, the junior looked like. Many students stopped by to see administrator was designated to oversee the what we were doing and to look at our front panel. course.
The construction of the ALTAIR went along The official course title, "Computer quite smoothly. The only problems encountered Technology 1-2", was approved finally. The during the construction involved trying to locate course included:
the latest field changes and incorporate them into 1. The development of computers in the our system. Then there were several transistors historical sense, including the
soldered in wrong, a fe~l ICs were upside down, and impact upon humankind, with c:onjectures a few ',lisread capacitors. Problems were also for the future.
caused by solder bridges and flakes of solder, but 2. The foundations of computer mathematics these were found by using a strong light and small including basic Boolean Algebra and wire brush. Finally, after only three weeks, it Logic, stressing TTL.
was time to apply power to our system. IT didn't 3. The electrical circuits that are used quite work they way it was supposed to. in hardware including, AND, OR, NAND,
The most difficult task was getting all the NOR, FF, also ICs with LSI, and MSI.
bugs out. It took us about a month of work, checkir 4. Components of a computer system at the and rechecking everything in each part of the systen block level including basic components to get to function properly. This troubleshooting such as CPU, memory, etc, also the diSC, period pointed up tr.e necessity of keeping an cassette interface, and other peripherals.
operation log, detailed notes on troubles, a 5. The component level of computer systems skepticism in believing schematics, and double that includes individual functioning of checlcing everything, taking nothing and no one for components in all sections of the computer granted. Some of the problems we encountered were: system. This level is one below the several parts were missing, the schematics were block level of each board or assembly.
wrong for the 4K memory boards, the memory ICs 6. The use of test equipment includes the arrived three weeks after the baords and did not YOM, Dm~, Oscilloscope, IC tester and work at the proper speeds, the factory field change! handtools. The interpretation of data were not sent to us, and finally, the suggested is also a portion of this section.
(bv the factory) change in the deposit circuitry 7. Troubleshooting the system includes
didn't work. the block level, co~ponent level,
The task of getting our system to function component replacement, and system properly presented a problem that required the . checkout.
development of a systematic approach, and emphas~zec 8. Comprehensive examinations to cover:
the need to be aware of one's assumptions. One Theory of computers, computer operation of the most common assumptions we made which and checkout, and troubleshooting.
caused us difficulty was that there was only one Those students satisfactorily completing this course deficient part causing the problem. One never are to be granted a license to operate and maintain knovis if this is true until the system is again the computer system at Morse High Schonl.
working well, and the possibility of multiple The materials used in the preceeding course malfunctions cannot be overlooked. include: Kemeny, J. Man and the Computer, Streater,
Troubleshooting also demands the use of Integrated Circuit Logic Elements, and the system test equioment. Our system also included a manuals for MITS ALTAIR 8800.
digital m~ltimeter, an IC tester, and oscilloscope, At the present time the computer has been as ~lell as the needed handtools. The use of these almost totally neglected as a useable tool in the instruments and the interpretation of their in- instruction program of most schools, only isolated formation again dema'nded some knowledge of the exar.lples exist of the use of computers in the theory of the computer system (note also the instruction program. The advent of personalized assumption that they are functioning properly). computer systems will force the schools to include The students at this point began to obtain a it into all areas of the curriculum. Our system thorough understanding of TTL and how the computer provided us with some very important insight into was supposed ,to function. the use of computer systems, these inSights are:
h'hen our system finally worked as we thought 1. Young children can understand the internal i t should i t was a great feeling for all of us. workings of computer systems.
We had accomplished a truly challenging task; had 2. Students at all levels can develop very done what many thought we could not do. Those sophisticated sofblare in a relatively people who had supported us, skeptically, were very short period of time.
impressed. \~e were all filled with a real sense of 3. Students are very creative in the use of accomplishment and pride in our achievement. the computer.
As soon as our system was in operation the 4. Students can be very helpful in solving EDP Division issued another directive, they would some of the problems at a particular school, not authorize any parts of our computer system to especially when USing a computer.
be placed upon the normal district maintenance 5. Adults(teachers and EDP personnel) can contract. This was great, because we had the become very threatened when students start knowledge, experience, and equipment to perform our using EDP equipment in creative ways.
FIRST COMPUTER FAIRE PROCEEDINGS BOX 1579, PALO ALTO CA 94302 PAGE 172
8. Students gain insights and understandings in areas by beco~ing involved in computer applications in those areas.
9. What ooppens (almost always good) many times some teachers and administrators can not understand the need nor the content of the proposed courses, an official authorization has not been given for their ir.1plementation.
Toe proposed courses are:
COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN NATURAL SCIENCE. This course woulrl provide the student with the opportunity of exploring computer applications in the areas of:
biology, phYSiCS, chemistry, and any combination of these areas.
COHPUTER APFLICATIONS IN !·:ATHENATICS. This course would provide the student with the opportunity of exploring computer applications in the area of mathematics, including: numerical analysis,
nu~ber theory, ordinary and partial differential equations, modern algebra, matricies, geometry, etc.
CONPUTER APPLICATIONS IN THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES.
This course would ~rovide the student with the opportunity of exploring computer applications in the areas of pSYChology, political sCience, history, economics, sociology, anthropology, as well as combinations of these fields.
CONFUTER APPLICATIONS IN BUSINESS. This course would provide the student with the opportunity of exploring computer applications in t:le areas of: marketino.
finance, management, advertizing, or any combination of these areas.
HEURISTIC APPLICATIONS OF COr·IPUTER SCIENCE. This course would allow the student to explore applications in such areas as: music, art, dance, literature, counseling, etc.
CONPUTER TECHNOLOGY. This sequence of four semester courses would provide the sutdent with the opportunity of learning the tr.eory, operation, and repair of
?ersonal computer systens. Also provided is the opportunity to design a small computer system, experimenting with circuits common to the industry.
Finally, the opportunity of constructing one's own system is also provided.
INDEPENDENT STUDY IN CONPUTER LANGUAGES. This course l;!ould al101tl tr.e student who desires to study a computer language other than BASIC, FORTRAN, or COBOL, the opportunity of developing a fluency in a language such as, ALGOL, PL/1, APL, RPG, etc.
INDEPENDENT EXPLORATIONS IN COlcPUTER SCIENCE.
This course would allow the student who desires to acquire a deep understanding of computers and computer technology, to work at the compiler/
translator/interpreter level of programming.
These courses were to be in addition to the regular offerings: Introduction to Computer Science, a course in BASIC programming; FORTRAN IV a course in programming in FORTRAN. These two courses were the only ones available to students within the current curriculur.1.
The, preceeding courses were to be phased into existance over a period of several years, and were to be offered during one time block with different students stUdying different courses within the same class. Credit would be granted upon completion of their course work and demonstrated kno>lledge of the contents of the course. This de~onstrated
kno\>lledge would usually take the form of a
demonstration for the instructor on the equipment or the presentation of appropriate software items.
Where can your system be used in the school
1. The phySical education department liked to have their statistics kept and we would
do i t for theM. .
2. Some diagnostic information relating to the behavior of our teams, and the some software development however.
5. Development of heuristic applications in all areas.
6. Develop a counseling service that would handle the mundane record keeping for the counselors.
7. EDP attendance, dumping information onto cassettes for easy storage. Maintaining an entire year of attendance records, computer systems. The students who attend schools now and in the future will have an ever Increasing familiarity with computer systems. At this time i t is possible to develop a functional computer system from kits with high school and junior school students constructing, operating, and maintaining such a system.
The use of personal computer s~'st~ms in the curriculum of the schools will require some additional courses being made available to students.
Teachers will need to realize they may never be able to understand the products of IT\any students in the area of computer science.
Personilized computer systems are here, NO\oJl The battle behleen the big vs the little system is continually "played" with computers since that time, constructing a tlcrude" computer with junior high school students in 1966. In addition to and computer science at United States International University, where he has also served as Assistant Dean. He is currently developing the area of pe,rsonalized computer applications at U.S.I.U.
He is rr.arried, and he and his Wife, Marcia, have two children of the computer era, Marlene (9), and V,ark (7). He has an A.B. from San Diego State
College, N.A. and Ph.D. from United States Internationa International University, also a post doctoral
year of study at U S.I.U.'s Institute for
Educational ~;anagement. He is presently interested in humanistic r"athematics, reading instruction for small boys using computers, and technological extensions of humankind.
BILBIOGRAPHY
Kemeny, John. Nan and the COJ"puter. Ilew York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1972.
Streater, J. vi. Integrated Circuit Looic Elements.
New York: Howard 'II. SC\ms, Inc., 1974.
Ze:ddies, 1'-1. L., et. al. Indi vidual i-zed Tnstruction for Gifted Students using Computer Time-Share Systems. San Diego: San Diego City Schools, 1974.
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