THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: Monday, October 24, 1994 TAG: 9410220507 SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL COLUMN: THE GATEWAY EXPLORING THE COMPUTER WORLD SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM says they're a hard age group to teach. A couple of years away from the disorientation of the teen zone, easily distracted, antsy, wild in groups. Fifth-graders are not always your perfect junior citizens.
You'd come away with a different idea if you sat in on math and science teacher Irvin Beard's computer classes at Birdneck Elementary School in Virginia Beach. On a recent morning, Beard's computer lab felt a little like an IBM office peopled by an adult work group. Children tapped away diligently at keyboards, printed out their handiwork and trotted up to the front of the class to hand it off to peers.
There was a minimum of chitchat. Nary a posture sagged. No one appeared bored.
It's because Beard's kids are cruising the information superhighway. They're talking to students all over the country and abroad, as far away as New Zealand.
School administrators say it's the first regular Internet connection for elementary grades in the Virginia Beach school system.
``What Irv's doing is phenomenal,'' said Assistant Principal Steve Scarcelli. ``Everyone's excited about the program - teachers, parents, kids. It's really expanding the knowledge base the kids can pull from.''
The kids agree that the traveling is, indeed, fine.
``It's cool,'' said Arielle Walters, 10. ``It's really neat talking on a computer to people who live a million miles away.''
Well, maybe not exactly a million miles. On a recent morning, Arielle and a group of schoolmates were deep in Net chat with teacher Jamie Wilkerson at Rosewood School in Rock Hill, S.C. Wilkerson, joined by professional divers, answered questions posed by the Birdneck kids on shipwrecks and the particulars of diving.
It's part of a study project on the wreck of the SS Central America, a steamship that sank off the coast of the Carolinas in 1857 during a hurricane. Members of the Columbus-America Discovery Group are planning to salvage the vessel's artifacts and more than three tons of gold.
Beard's classes are participating in an Internet effort known as Kidlink, which connects students throughout the United States to collaborate on a variety of science, math, history, sociology and language arts projects. The Virginia Beach kids make their net connections courtesy of the Virginia Public Education Network.
A couple of weeks ago, Beard hooked a high-speed external modem to his late-model Apple computer. He connected an overhead projector to the Apple, so that everyone in the Birdneck computer lab could watch the Net question-and-answer exchange.
Beard, a former Navy pilot who retired as a commander after 24 years in the service, said that when personal computers first came out in the early 1980s, he had no idea how to use them. In fact, unlike those he supervised, he was intimidated by the machines.
``I knew how to turn on an electric typewriter. That was about it,'' Beard said. ``All the adults in my command were computer experts. I actually bought an Apple (computer) and took it home to the privacy of my own room so I wouldn't be embarrassed (learning).''
Now, Beard speaks with the zeal of a convert out to win more hearts and minds. His mission is to make Internet use routine in all Beach schools. In coming weeks, he'll be teaching his colleagues how to set up and configure their own systems and connections.
Eventually, say Beard and Scarcelli, the goal is nothing less than to remake the curriculum to include the best of what the Net has to offer.
``We have a challenge as teachers to not just teach rote memorization and facts and figures, but to find out where the answers are,'' Beard asserted. ``We're using a keyboard to expand knowledge. Before, teachers were restricted to what was in the book. This is not in the book.'' MEMO: If you have any ideas or comments for The Gateway, contact Rob
Morris, robm(AT)infi.net or call 446-2362.
In Hampton Roads, access to the Internet is offered through InfiNet.
For details, see Page A2.
ILLUSTRATION: D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/Staff photo illustration
Arielle Walters, 10, works on the Internet at Birdneck Elementary
School in Virginia Beach.
KEYWORDS: INTERNET INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY by CNB