THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 23, 1994 TAG: 9411190644
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: SURRY LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Bringing the videodisc into the classroom as an instructional tool for science is the latest stride in the high-tech direction for students at Surry Elementary School.
The days of loading a projector with film and synchronizing it with a cassette player are long gone. Now, teachers at Surry Elementary are bringing the sights and sounds of the world to their classroom through Windows on Science.
The video-enhanced curriculum offers a way of teaching science so the senses are heightened and natural patterns of learning are used to the students' advantage, says Veleka Brown, public relations director for Surry Public Schools.
The idea behind Windows on Science is that all children can achieve in science in an environment that ignites their senses and embraces their individual needs. As a part of each unit, many images are accompanied by sound effects.
``This way, both the visual and auditory learner are accommodated,'' Brown says.
As students see pictures - live-motion video, computer animations, labeled diagrams and cross-sections, and charts and graphs - they listen to the teacher describe what they are watching. After each lesson, the students participate in a group discussion with their teacher.
``Windows on Science brings things we're talking about to life other than the printed page,'' says Carolyn Miller, a sixth grade science teacher.
She recently has been using the program to help provide visual depictions of life during the age of dinosaurs. She says she is ``quite impressed'' with the way her students respond.
``I hear oohs and ahhs all the time when they see things actually moving on the screen.''
The video disc is effective at the primary level as well.
``Can we hear it again?'' first grade students in Ruby Judkins' class shouted as they identified familiar household sounds during a video session recently on the sense of hearing. ``I get immediate feedback from my students,'' Judkins said. ``Windows on Science helps to make them more aware of the knowledge they already have.''
Surry Elementary teachers say they are finding that Windows on Science is useful across the curriculum for social students and health, Brown said.
The teachers say the program better targets the attention span of today's student by replacing 30-to 45-minute films from years ago with short blurbs of information on video discs. Teachers also say students are instantly self-motivated to learn simply at the sight of the shiny videodisc being put into the machine.
To get them involved, parents received letters describing what is in each unit of the program, Brown says.
``More important, there is constant interaction between the teacher and student as well as among the students themselves. Surry Elementary teachers agree, based on the warm reception of the videodisc, efforts to improve technology even further will be gladly welcomed.
``New technology has made a booming impact on private industry for years,'' Brown says. ``But now, the public education system is quickly catching on.'' by CNB