The University of Montana will be hosting a middle school and high school computer fair on March 10, 1997. The fair will be the first of its kind to be held in Montana and is modeled after the Greater Kansas City Computer Fair which is being held annually in Kansas City, Missouri. The fair is being administered out of the Computer Science Department with David Thompson acting as director and assisted by Adam Montville. This first fair is being conducted as a "pilot" fair with the competition only open to schools west of the Continental Divide. We hope to expand the fair to the entire state in the near future.
Computers have become a new tool for every student and educator to use. The use of the computer is no longer limited to the business, computer science, or mathematics courses, but rather is applicable to supporting the entire middle and high school curriculums. Thus, one of the goals of this fair is to offer competition categories for multiple disciplines and all middle and high school students. Competition categories for projects requiring the integration of several disciplines are also included. Competition categories/subcategories will include the following:
1. Computers and the Arts and Humanities:
a. Computer Music - performance, composition, or creation of music using the computer.
b. Computer Art - illustration, painting, or three dimensional scenes created with a computer.
c. Multimedia - the use of more than one media to create a presentation. This may be linear or non-linear.
d. Journalism - newspapers, yearbooks, or other similar publications that have been created using a computer.
e. World Wide Web Page Creations - HyperText Markup Language pages or other published information.
2. Computer Programs:*
a. Entertainment Programs - games, screen savers, etc.
b. Educational Programs - computer programs that convey educational content.
c. Scientific Programs - computer programs that solve some type of scientific equation or model.
d. Business Programs - computer programs that can be used in the business world to accomplish a specific goal. This may include database models.
e. Simulation and Modeling - computer programs that simulate or model a real world situation.
* These programs must be written in some type of programming language. If only multimedia tools have been used to create the programs, then the participant should submit his/her work in the multimedia category.
3. Inventions:
a. Computer Driven - robots, household controls, physics experiments, etc., that are controlled or driven by a computer.
b. Electronically Controlled - robots, household controls, physics experiments, etc., that are controlled not by a computer, but by other electronic equipment designed by the participant.
Discussions we have had with teachers over the past few months suggest that this fair will be well received. In fact, we are already concerned over the physical space which may be required to hold the exhibits and our ability to find adequate judges. If the pilot fair is as successful as anticipated, we will probably attempt to get regional fairs started across the state much the same as the organization currently associated with science fairs. Thus, one of our objectives in submitting this article is to encourage early interest across the state and to identify individuals who might be interested in being leaders in getting regional fairs started in other areas of the state. For those who may not be familiar with the science fair organization, we now have four regional science fairs located in Billings, Butte, Great Falls and Havre, and a state fair which is held in Missoula and also administered by the Computer Science Department at The University of Montana.
Further information can be found at our Internet site: http://www.cs.umt.edu/COMPFAIR/wwwpg.htm or by sending email to Jerry Esmay (esmay@cs.umt.edu), David Thompson (dthompsn@cs.umt.edu) or Adam Montville (amnesia@selway.umt.cdu). We also plan on scheduling a sectional at next year’s MEA Convention to share the results of our experiences with the pilot fair and to discuss future plans.
Jerry D. Esmay, Chair
Department of Computer Science
The University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812-1008
Phone: (406) 243-2883
FAX: (406) 243-5139
President's Corner by Bob Gunderson
What an exciting time to be a technology using educator! With the increasing availability of powerful, affordable hardware, incredible software, and access to the Internet at or near most of our fingertips we truly live in amazing times. Overwhelming as much of this seems to our fellow educators, we as the technology-using leaders, need to step to the forefront, sharing with our colleagues the wide-reaching possibilities that technology can provide for them in their own classrooms.
Each year our annual MEA/AFT convention offers an opportunity to share the good news with our peers from around the state. Each year we, the MCCE, try to sponsor a keynote speaker that can provide us with a glimpse of the opportunities that are available to us as technology-using educators. This year’s keynote speaker (pending approval by the MCCE Board in March) will be Yvonne Andres of the Global School Network. An educator for seventeen years, Yvonne Marie Andres has taught all grade levels from preschool through university level. Currently, Ms. Andres is on special assignment as Director of the Global Schoolhouse; an international K-12 networking project (originally funded by National Science Foundation). She also serves as the President and Director of Curriculum of the Global SchoolNet Foundation,(formally FrEdMail). Ms. Andres has designed and taught several on-line courses, including "Hello Internet," "Managing Global Learning Projects" on the Internet," "Designing On-line Courses," and "Creating Your Own WWWeb Pages.". Ms. Andres' current activities include managing two very exciting and innovative Internet learning projects, International Schools CyberFair and ThinkQuest. She also is a keyplayer in a pilot Internet video project with ABC World News Now. More about Yvonne and the Global Schoolhouse Network can be found on line at http://www.gsn.org.
Along with Yvonne, Computer-Lines & Computer-Plus have also agreed to participate as presenters at the October convention. We need presenters from within our own ranks to make this year’s convention complete. Please consider sharing what you do in your classroom as a technology-using educator. Remember the April 12th deadline for getting the presentations forms back to me.
I have received several applications for the Technology-Using Educator award that MCCE will be giving at the convention in Billings. Hopefully, we will receive additional ones in the next few weeks. The nomination forms were included in the mailing to the membership in mid-February.
I was disappointed when checking this year’s membership list against last year’s list. We gained some new members but we lost 37 people that were members of our organization last year. As of February 1, we had 57 members in MCCE. What seems to be the problem? As an organization of technology-using educators, we have a great opportunity to provide leadership and a clear direction in an area that can be somewhat cloudy and confusing at times. Get on board, recruit some new members, participate by being an officer or board member in your organization (check the form on the last page of this newsletter). Come to the membership meeting in October with your ideas and concerns.
Keeping Up with On-Line Discussions
by Vince Long, MCCE Newsletter Editor
On-line discussion groups have been around for many years. From the hundreds of topics relayed through the venerable FidoNet, to the over 10,000 areas found on the Internet’s USENET, and the many areas on our own MET-Net and its associated One-Net, it is easy for the average cyber-surfer to become overwhelmed.
One problem with these groups is that they are public. Anyone can read them and anyone can send messages to them. Wading through the increasing volume of off-topic messages can discourage anyone who wants to garner the diamonds in all of this rough. One type of off-topic posting that has been an increasing problem are the advertisements, essentially junk mail, known on the ‘net as "spam."
A great alternative to dealing with the public side of discussion groups, is to join a mailing list. These are private discussion groups that take place right in your e-mail box and all that you need to join is an Internet e-mail address. These groups tend to be more professional in their content and some are moderated, having the ability to restrict access to the group by removing anyone who gets out of line.
The way the list works is quite simple. Any message that is sent to the computer that manages the list of members, the listserver, is sent to everyone on the list via their e-mail accounts. If you can do e-mail, you can participate in a mailing list.
There are somewhere between six and ten thousand different topics areas from which to choose. If you have Web access you can search for groups at http://tile.net/lists/. This site allows you to find groups by subject or by keywords. It also provides information on how to join a particular group once you have found it.
Joining a mailing list is a matter of sending an e-mail message to a computer that manages the group’s subscriber list. The usual method is to send an e-mail, leaving the "Subject" line of your message blank and including, in the body of the message, the word "SUBSCRIBE" followed by the name of the group and your name. After sending the message you will receive, by return e-mail, a message telling you that you’ve been added to the list with instructions on how to post messages to it and how to UNSUBSCRIBE from it. You do not post messages to the same e-mail address that you used to subscribe, nor do you send your UNSUBSCRIBE message to the address that you use to post messages (a major faux pas on the ‘net.)
The list of groups available is staggering, covering every hobby, professional group, and technical topic imaginable. Some groups might send you a message or two a day while others might send as many at 100 per day. Dealing with that many messages in your e-mail box can be a hassle, so most groups allow you to subscribe in a "digest" form. A digest typically contains all of the messages for one 24-hour period, pasted together as one piece of e-mail. An added advantage of receiving messages in this format is that the digest contains a table of contents allowing you to scan through the subjects lines of the included messages.
A great list that I receive every day or two is from the NOVAE GROUP. It is a newsletter that contains the latest information about the use of technology in the classroom, with an emphasis on effective use of the Internet. To subscribe, send an e-mail to listserv@idbsu.idbsu.edu. Leave the "Subject" line of the message blank and place this in the body of the message: subscribe novae yourfirstname yourlastname.
If you have a mailing list that you would like to share, send me the information and I’ll include it in an upcoming newsletter.
Science Fair News
by Jerry D. Esmay
As Director of the Montana State Science Fair for the past several years, I have become increasingly concerned over the decreasing number of computer science exhibits at not only the state fair but the regional fairs as well. As a result, I decided to submit this article in the hope that it would provide information to those teachers who might not be aware of science fair competition and to motivate those who are knowledgeable to take another look at this important activity.
The science fair program is one of many activities sponsored by Science Service, Incorporated. Science Service publishes a set of rules for research and guidelines for science fairs annually which governs this competition. Science Service has also established a very formal process for controlling the establishment and control of "affiliated" fairs. And, Science Service sponsors an International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) each year.
The Science Service program is for high school students with an ideal scenario consisting of individual schools holding science fairs which would funnel competitors into regional affiliated fairs which would then funnel competitors into a state affiliated fair. As it currently stands, each affiliated fair is allowed to send two individual winners and one team winner on to the international competition. The international competition is held at a different site each year. Last year the international fair was held at Tucson, Arizona; this year it will be in Louisville, Kentucky. There were more than 1,000 students from the United States, its territories, and over 40 additional countries participating in last year’s ISEF. Here in Montana, we have an annual state fair at Missoula and four regional fairs at Billings, Butte, Great Falls and Havre. All five of our fairs are sanctioned by Science Service so are each authorized to send their winners on to the international competition as mentioned previously. The Montana fairs also include competition at the middle school level, and in the case of the Billings fair, down to the first grade. While the grand award winning high school students win trips to the international competition, there are numerous other special individual and school awards given out at each fair.
High school students compete in one of fifteen research categories ranging from Behavioral and Social Sciences to Team Projects, including Computer Science. The Science Service definition for projects in the computer science category is very broad , "Study and development of computer software and hardware associated logical devices."
An observation I have made repeatedly while attending Montana and ISEF fairs over the past nine years is that there were very few exhibitors in the computer science category. Thus, those few students who do exhibit in this category have a much higher chance of winning awards since there are usually awards given in each category. This is especially true at the ISEF competition where several levels of grand awards are given in each category.
Thus, I encourage all science teachers to consider this competition for your students, especially those students who are infatuated with computer technology. If interested in obtaining additional information, please send me email at esmay@cs.umt.edu, telephone me at the number below, or write to me.
COMPUTER SCIENCE ENDORSEMENT
by Jerry D. Esmay
A number of years ago, I and several other individuals were called together by Dan Dolan, Mathematics and Computer Science Specialist , Office of Public Instruction, to investigate the desirability of establishing a Computer Science teaching endorsement for the State of Montana. This investigative group had representation from The University of Montana and Montana State University, practicing high school computer science teachers, and high school administrators. Consensus was quickly reached that there should be such an endorsement.
As most of our members are aware, the standards for this endorsement were then developed and
eventually approved by the Montana Board of Public Education. An implementation plan for the endorsement for anyone teaching computer science courses to include provisions for the “Grandfathering” of teachers having the equivalent skills/knowledge was developed and executed. This process reached culmination this past September with the endorsement becoming effective for anyone teaching computer science courses at the secondary level in Montana.
Over the past two years or so, I have had several high school teachers tell me that this endorsement has not had the effect intended by the aforementioned committee. That is, rather than enhancing the standardization of computer science course offerings, some schools have elected to cease offering computer science courses because of the possible additional expense associated with hiring someone with this endorsement. Additionally, a couple of teachers have proposed that this endorsement was actually outdated before it was fully implemented. That is, due to the rapid evolution of computer technology, to include software, it can be argued that what should be currently offered as computer science classes and class content is quite different from ten years ago.
Associated with this is the growth in the need for each school district, and quite possibly each school, to have a technology expert available on-site to manage and maintain all of the computer equipment, and to act as a consultant to other teachers on how to most effectively use this technology in the classroom.
All of the above then leads me to wonder if the subject of computer science endorsements should not be revisited. As noted previously, there are at least two issues that probably should be addressed:
1. Is the current Computer Science Endorsement still appropriate? If so, are the standards making up this endorsement still appropriate?
2. Should there be a standard Technology Expert position identified and described at the OPI level?
I am certainly interested in what other MCCE members think about this subject and encourage comments to be either mailed to me at the address below or sent to me via email at esmay@cs.umt.edu. If deemed desirable, I could schedule a sectional at next year’s MEA Convention for further discussion.
Jerry D. Esmay, Chairman
Department of Computer Science
The University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812-1008
Phone: (406) 243-2883
FAX: (406) 243-5139
