Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 19, 1995 TAG: 9509190047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Walk into Tom Chester's class, and you'll think it's some high-tech engineering course for college students.
But look closer and you'll notice that the youths huddled around a wind tunnel testing a car they designed aren't college students at all. They are eighth-graders at Andrew Lewis Middle School in Salem. And they are the first to test the school's new Synergistics Lab - a $115,000 high-tech teaching tool geared toward middle-school students.
The course - technology education - has replaced the traditional shop class.
Students in this class learn how to build bridges, design cars, fly airplanes and create video-image yearbooks.
"We live in a society that's high-tech. Hopefully, this will better teach these kids to live in our society," said Chester, who teaches the course to about 45 eighth-graders this year. He also teaches an "exploratory" course to sixth- and seventh-graders.
"It's a time when students can really apply the skills they're learning in other classes."
The lab has 12 stations where two students work together to complete a self-directed module in a particular subject. Each station includes a computer and a videocassette player and monitor to guide the students.
Dusty Fisher and Nikki Lewis were working together Thursday to design a car.
Following instructions from a videotaped demonstration and a textbook full of exercises, they started with a block of wood, will draft a design, then cut the wood into the shape of a car.
Once they have put the final touches on the car, they will test their design in a wind tunnel.
"It's better than what we used to have," Fisher said. "You get to do more."
Aaron Turner and Bryan Laster were learning the basics of computer-generated graphics.
Laster said he hopes to follow in his father's footsteps and become an engineer.
"This is kind of like what he does," he said.
At the end of the semester, when the students have finished their modules, they will have a "wrap-up day," Chester said. The students will race the cars they designed, see how strong their bridges are on the bridge-tester, and launch the rockets they made.
But the activities aren't the only high-tech features of this class.
When students enter the classroom, they are greeted by a digital message board that Chester programs each morning, giving them their assignment for the day.
The students work at their own pace, moving from work station to work station as they complete the modules.
"They're controlling their education," Chester said. "It's a new way of teaching technology."
Although Chester is present at all times to answer questions, the students no longer have to raise their hands until they get his attention. They just switch on a call light at the top of their work station.
Additional subjects will be added later, he said, including robotics, solar energy and computer animation.
The lab, which is also being used by Northside Middle School in Roanoke County, is part of a six-year plan of Salem's school administrators to bring its technological curriculum up to date, said Director of Instruction Joe Kirby.
The School Board is also considering a similar teaching program for Salem High School, which would be more focused than the middle school program.
"I hope [the Synergistics Lab] causes students to look for more technology courses," Kirby said. An advanced technology curriculum could be in place as early as the 1997-98 school year, which would be just in time for students now using the Synergistics Lab.
by CNB