By Richard P. Morin
[Originally published in Brown University's George Street Journal, June 6, 1996.]
As the teacher navigated the screen, Sinha explained that the program is based on the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. With each click of the mouse, Sinha said, students are presented with questions surrounding the cleanup of oil from the grounded tanker. The program teaches students about the environment and the hazards of waste contamination.
"This has been fun all along," said Sinha, a third-year graduate student in psychology. "When we went into the classroom and saw the children really enjoying it, we were quite excited. It is really cool to think that we are helping children learn."
Since 1990, Brown students in CS 92 have been designing educational software to meet the needs of specific classes in Providence's public and private schools. The course is designed to help Brown students learn the intricacies of designing educational software.
However, "this is not a programming class. It can't be, because we have only three to four weeks to design the program," said David Niguidula, a systems analyst and project manager at the Coalition of Essential Schools who co-teaches the course with Andries Van Dam, professor of computer science. But, Niguidula added, "we tell the students at the beginning of the semester that the stakes are high. And being Brown students, they take that very seriously."
In the fall, Niguidula searches Providence for teachers who desire to integrate computer software into their lessons. He looks for teachers whose needs cannot be met through traditional means. "We are not looking to create software that could be bought off the shelves," he said. "We want teachers and students to know that this is something built specifically for them, that they can get nowhere else."
In the past, Brown students have worked with public schools in Fall River, Mass., and Providence as well as such private schools as the Wheeler School, Lincoln School and Rhode Island School for the Deaf. Students in CS 92 have designed and implemented computer software in elementary, middle and high school classes.
The course typically involves close to 30 students, most of whom are computer science concentrators. At the beginning of the semester, they pair into teams. (This semester there were ten teams.) They are then linked with the teachers, who describe their computing capabilities and the curricula for which they want software. The Brown students then write a detailed project description, develop a storyboard and begin the programming for the specific computer it will be used on.
Throughout the semester, there are guest lectures from educational software experts and demonstrations of the students' works in progress.
Recently, students gathered in a classroom on the fourth floor of the Thomas J. Watson Sr. Center for Information Technology to show off their final projects to the Providence teachers and computer specialists.
"They're fantastic," said Bonnie Beckham, the computer support specialist at Classical High School in Providence. "It's very helpful for teachers when the software is written specifically for their needs as a teacher."
Students at Classical, according to Beckham, still use a computer program created last year called "Willy's World." The program uses Shakespeare to teach students basic communication skills. "That program has really caught on and made a valuable impact," she said.
Other educators are just as pleased with the connection between Brown and the local schools. "This couldn't have worked out better," said John Marsula, a technology specialist at the Feinstein High School in Providence. "Our students have responded to this extremely well. It has clicked on so many levels, and our students are just bubbling with enthusiasm."
This semester Brown students designed a program for students at Feinstein that teaches them how to use CD-ROMs and the Internet. "When the students first sat down to it and just the way they reacted was one of the most memorable moments of my teaching experience," said Marsula, a veteran of the Providence public school system.