From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Social Science & Foreign Language


On Sun, 4 Feb 1996, John D. Crossman wrote:

> ...... doing an inservice for Social Science and Foreign Language teachers
> .......... any [...] suggestions for what these .....
> students should be doing with technological tools and Internet access...?

Find ways for them to interact with their environment, their society.  I
particularly like the strategy of encouraging them to ask questions that
not only create and gather certain types of information, but also create a
positive change amongst those surveyed (and the surveyors?).  Perhaps an
example of this would be the question, 'If you could ask ANYONE to be
president, who would you choose?'.  Many people who hear this question
have little or no idea how they would answer it.  But those who profess
that they cannot answer, at least not right away, actually seem to be
those who *compliment* the question the most.  I digress.  The point is
that there is an opportunity in each moment of a person's public discourse
to turn the attention, the focus toward something more important, more
central, more illuminating, (pick your metaphor), or toward the opposite. 
Most surveys conducted in public places (it seems to me) are conducted to
promote the financial interests of marketers.  I am not opposed to
marketers conducting surveys, but do think that we could do better as a
society if we could find a different balance amongst the various kinds of
questions that we want to put to citizens, to ourselves, to society. 

Perhaps one reason why it is so gratifying to write a page that someone 
might say, "Interesting...good idea", or put out a question that is 
received gladly and thoughtfully, is that I feel that I have helped to 
produce a permanent change (for the better, I believe) in someone's sense of 
possibilities.

So, in putting questions to society, we have an opportunity to affect the 
society, but much depends on the nature of the question.  

One artifact of traditional, normal polling techniques is that people
often are expected to give an immediate response to a question.  How can
polling strategies change when it becomes possible to inform a population
of a question in a separate action from the actual gathering of opinions
from a sample of that population.  But, on reflection, this is what
happens in an election.  The question, in the national presidential
election, is 'Which of the two 'major' party nominees do I like the most,
or dislike the least, or do I want to vote 'third' party, or not vote at
all..?' No where in the presidential selection process are we asked to
consider the question, 'Who would we choose, if we could ask anyone?'. 
Only if you were listening to Walter Cronkite would you hear a question
anything like this.  He's the one I stole it, adapted it from. 

How can we explore the effect of presenting some results of earlier
polling at the same time that we ask a question; for example, when we ask
for an opinion on who might make a good president, we could show the list
of 101 names that was compiled when Cronkite put out his question:  'Aside
from those who appear to be running, who do you think might make a good
president?' Sometimes it is important to know what the opinions of your
fellow citizens are, particularly in the selection of leadership.  We want
people who we trust and respect and generally agree with, but we also
need people who other people also trust and respect, and 
generally agree with. 

We could ask whether people would support a change in the economic
paradigm to a system that involved payments for use of natural resources,
including use of air and water as a medium for taking pollution, use of
forests, fisheries, pasture, even use of electromagnetic spectrum space;
whatever natural resource use by human beings that needs to be managed
within certain limits can be managed by either auctioning limited numbers
of permits, or by adjusting the permit price, or fee per use.  Then this
money collected could be dispersed to all the people of the world.  With
the people controlling the price of various permits OR the numbers allowed,
there would be ownership and management of the earth, of our natural
resources, by the people.  This attains Marx's ownership of the means of
production by the people, if natural resources are seen as the ultimate
means of production; while it preserves the free market managed by
decentralized forces.  Again I digress... 

The point is, as we undertake to observe and measure our society, comment
and talk about it, we need to recognize that we are not merely passive
observers but agents of change.  A question is a linguistic device to turn
the attention to something.  When we create questions, we are making a
statement about what we believe is important, what requires or deserves 
our attention. 

John Champagne

 http://www.oocities.org/athens/1942

jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: science sites, internet and Clifford Stoll

Remember what Clifford Stoll said about internet, (he wrote "Silicone 
Snake Oil"):  You can get neat pictures from the internet of craters, or 
you can point a telescope at the moon, and see real craters.

Stoll believes that we gain more and deeper understanding through our 
interactions with one another and through our direct experience of our 
environment than we ever can or will learn through a CRT.  I agree.
His point is not to completely reject the technology, I think, but to 
keep it in perspective, and always keep the personal interaction and 
direct experience as our primary means for creating meaning.  

John


From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Tropical Rainforest Interdisciplinary Project

Rainforests are the most complex systems that we know of, except
perhaps for the mind and society, which themselves grew up in and
emerged from the forest.  Complex systems are complex because they are
made up of many interacting parts.  The neuron and the neural net are the
new icons of our information and communication revolution.  The ecosystem
can also be viewed through this perspective of the paradigm of interacting
entities. 

A neural network can be viewed as a collection of similar entities
communicating with one another, with the behavior of each influencing the
behavior of the others, more or less, as the degree and pattern of
connection vary throughout the population. 

In the past 100 years or so, but especially more recently, our ability to
amplify and extend this communicative aspect of our being, our practice of
sending and receiving information in a dynamic exchange with our fellows
has exploded tremendously, and the rate of change continues to increase. 

Our toolbox is new.  We do not have longstanding traditions to guide us in
the use of our new tools.  Every time new technology is introduced into
human societies, changes in the structure of society and in human
consciousness soon follow.  Some people liken the 'information revolution'
to the changes accompanying the invention of the printing press, but the
change may be more akin to the invention of the word and culture, in that
it greatly expands our ability to share elaborate and sophisticated
messages--as the word did, starting a couple million years ago or so.  
The impact of that invention unfolded in what we might see as somewhat 
regular, predictable ways if we were to study the development of another 
language-using animal.  The impact of our invention of language and 
stories continued as we refined our language abilities.  With the advent 
of language, development of hunting, cooking, agriculture, money,  
road networks and global neural networks are just a matter of time.  

Our recent network inventions, broadcast networks, phone networks,
computer networks, film distributorships, the UN, NGOs,... have multiplied
the number of ways that human beings can interact with one another.  With
satellites and genetic engineering we have changed the way we perceive and
interact with our environment, our home.  The earth-image and double helix
are icons of our time.  Our new tools are affecting our perception of
ourselves and the world we live in. 

Human beings have tended to identify themselves in terms of, in relation 
to the tools of the day.  As the neuron and the network have come to 
epitomize our age, we have begun to realize that the whole of creation, 
the ecosystem and beyond, can be perceived through the paradigm of 
interacting parts, or entities, interacting with one another in systems, 
which themselves can be perceived as parts or entities interacting within 
systems of a higher order, or greater complexity.  

Take for example the cell, which is a living thing, communicating with 
others like itself, interdependent on them, affecting them and being 
affect by them; yet these cells are parts of a greater entity, an 
organism, the chimpanzee living in the forest.

The chimpanzee, also, does not live in isolation, but is a member of a 
chimpanzee society, where each member knows all the others personally, 

The mental state of perceiving the 'other' as alien, as an 'enemy',  
is probably an inevitable result of our need as an organism to
distinguish between individuals who are members of our own band, 
or social group from members of other bands, or rival societies.

The various human societies were at one time like separate organisms
competing with one-another.  Now this is no longer true, or it is much
less true now than in the past.  When systems share information, they can
quickly become integrated, so that they function as one system.  When all
the nations of the world become interconnected in trade and communications
networks, they effectively become one entity, and to the extent that
economic activity is characterized by voluntary associations in free
markets and moderated by fees assessed according to perceived ecologic
impact of particular kinds of activity, then the ecologic and economic
systems become integrated, and function effectively as a single system. 

I don't know where I am going with this... The rainforest is a great place
to look if you want to study complex systems. All things are connected. 
When we look at the rainforest, or any forest, we may see that the plants 
there are actually our external lungs; they take what we exhale and use 
it to build up their own material form, and even make food for us, and 
they pump out oxygen into the atmosphere that we use in an integral step 
in the process of metabolizing that food.  

john

You can help promote a strong national commitment to public education:  
ask Walter Cronkite to be president.


From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Primary Grade Net Users?

On Thu, 15 Feb 1996 CelesteA@aol.com wrote:

> Is the Wide World Web a reasonable place for kids of 5, 6, 7 to go?

From what I've seen, this http://www seems pretty much an adult medium,
thus far.  Admittedly, my experience with it is quite limited.  One thing
that will increase children's interest in the web and the availability of
documents of interest to children will be participation in the creation of
the web by children, through creation of web documents.  The thing that
will make the web a place for children is for children to make it their
place.  Whatever html documents children receive will mean more to them,
will be better understood when those children themselves create html
documents. 

The increased versatility of the web that current work in knowledge
bases/meta-information will bring should make the web a more informal
place.  Methods are being developed that will allow knowledge base and
meta-information to be embedded in html files, i.e., we will be able to
tag files according to what we might be expected to know if we read them,
and also what we might find out.  (Recall KWL charts.) Meta-information
tags--information about information--would allow us to ask the browser to
look for "things written by six-year olds", or "things written by children
who experienced an earthquake", or whatever.  This and other developments
will allow a much more informal, conversational tone on the web. 

But the way to make the web a place for children is to have children help 
build the web.  Learning how can be fun.  (It has been for me.)  I find 
documents on the web that I am interested in, for content AND for html 
technique, and I get the source code for them.  I then compare the source 
code with the rendered document, so that I can see what codes produce 
which effects.  (It is important to have good models for this, that have 
bonafide good code, not just examples that may work well on a particular 
kind of browser.)  Great for developing an eye for detail, and comparison, 
contrast skills, among other things.

John Champagne

Could we find a person who would be president because we asked 
him(her) to be president, and not for any reasons of 
career or ego?   (Walter Cronkite would do it if we ask him.)


From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Attendance Incentives: Any Suggestions?

How 'bout give the students money.  In fact, give them money that they can
only use to hire musicians and potters and engineers and magicians and
cooks and other people with gifts to share to come to their classes and
share some of what they know.  The teachers and community can share in
rating the itinerant artists and artisans, (along with the children, of
course) according to who seemed to best promote the students' development.  

The fact of having an opportunity and even a need to pool their resources 
to afford to bring people to their class, or to go out and visit others, 
could help the young people to develop a healthy respect for the value 
of money.  

The opportunity to bring people of their own choosing to their school 
could go a long way toward eliminating any feelings that what happens in 
school has no meaning or relevance to their lives.

John

Cronkite for President!


From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Re[4]: Uppity Students Unite!


The pledge is corrupted when it is recited every day, as part of a dull 
rutine.  A compulsory routine, at that.

john

For a look at how we look at the pledge, how we ask children to say 
things that they do not understand, get the PBS screenplay, funded by 
MOBIL, called 'The Children's Story', or the book by James Clavell.

To: jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
Subject: Children's sites
 
the best children's pages available on the net 

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of 
the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu Subject: antibiotic abuse

A question for fellow science teachers:

Many people in the science field believe that antibiotics are misused in
the medical field.  Every time a person has a cold, infection, or pain that
can't be explained they go to the doctor and receive a placebo fix of
antibiotics.  Please do not misunderstand my stand.  Antibiotics have a
crucial role in today's society right down to life expectancy.  However,
every time an antibiotic is used we give the bacteria it is fighting an
opportunity to "evolve" by weeding out the weak individuals and leaving
the strong survivors to breed and infect. 

        If you have a doubt about this stand, think back in your medical 
history and see if you can recall ever having an antibiotic prescription 
to fight a virus.  When I was younger I contracted Mononucleosis and my 
doctor prescribed a penicillin that nearly killed me and at the same time 
had no possible chance of fighting my infection. Sometimes one must 
simply be patient and wait it out; the quick fix has a cost.
        You have seen how I feel about this issue, I invite any of you to 
respond with your views (agreeing/disagreeing).
***************************************************************************
Jason A. Barwise BSc                        PO Box 256   
x95gjl@juliet.stfx.ca                       Saint Francis Xavier University
7 Manor Dr                                  Antigonish, N.S.
Charlottetown, PEI                          B2G 2X1
CIA-6R2                                     1-902-863-1534 
1-902-566-3877                              Bachelor of Education
***************************************************************************

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: antibiotic abuse

The animal agriculture industry feeds antibiotics to livestock routinely,
to suppress infections which would otherwise spread throughout the
overcrowded cow, chicken, and pig populations.  I have read that half of
all antibiotics in this country are used in this way.  I consider this a
great squandering of a valuable resource.  (The animal agriculture
industry also squanders energy, water, biodiversity, (forests are cut for
cow pasture).)

For a long time, the public schools taught the 'Four Food Groups' using
materials provided by the National Dairy Council.  Befor the four food
groups were invented by the Dairy Council, (with one food group reserved
exclusively for their own products, which many people are allergic to)
there were about 11 different food groups.  Unfortunately, there is not a
good record of careful examination of food and nutrition issues in the
schools.  Yet, some people would have food--how we get it, how we change it
through cooking, how it helps us--as a central theme of the education
process. 

John Champagne

Ask ANYONE to be president....  Who would you choose?

Walter Cronkite would do it if we ask him.


Socrates:  Can you be happy, and have a just society, by living this 
way? Would you not have greater need to visit the doctor?  Would you not
deplete your resources, and soon feel a need to go to war with your
neighbor, to take a slice of their pasturage?  And they, following a
similar way of living, would feel a need to go to war with you, to take a
slice of your land....? 

Read how Daylight Saving Time dulls our perception of the subtle changes 
in the day/night cycle, and why it should be abolished:

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: RE: antibiotic abuse

How can they use antibiotics to fight viruses in the first place??????
When I was majoring in Biology at east Stroudsburg University during the early
seventies, my Physiology instructor told us that viruses CANNOT be killed by
treating the patients with antiobiotics!  I wondered what the doctors today
are being told?  The only way a patient can get rid of a viral infection is
by waiting it out as you stated or by taking interferon, a specific medication 
for viruses, but people nowadays want a "quick fix" that they will ask their
doctors for anything and the doctors comply just to get the money and to get
the patient off their backs!  I thank you Jason for giving me the opportunity
to air my gripes about doctors and medical care in general.  By the way, my
name is Marcia Shaffer and I am a graduate student here at Marywood College
in Scranton, PA  pursuing a Master of Arts in Teaching degree.  If you want 
to discuss the medical issues more, you can email me at Marywood1.Marywood.
edu  .  Bye now.  Marcia.

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: antibiotic abuse

>       You have seen how I feel about this issue, I invite any of you to 
>respond with your views (agreeing/disagreeing).

When my children were born in 1979 and 1981, their pediatrian was a recent
graduate. He not only would not give them antibiotics unless absolutely
necessary, but he did not want them to eat too much chicken. He said that
chicken are given antibiotics to make them grow faster and he felt that if
the children were constantly ingesting them through the chicken, that when
he needed to give them antibiotics, they would not be as effective.

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu

Angela Tighe wrote:
 
>  I am curious to see
> if any of you out there have been able to successfully implement Chaucer
> in the high school curriculum.

Angela,
Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_ is one of the highlights of our senior year 
curriculum.  Most students are intrigued by his work and, if not 
initially, they finally do come to enjoy it.  We study at least part of 
the Tales with all our students, from Comprehensive level to Advanced 
Placement.  All students read at least the General Prologue and the 
Pardoner's Tale. The Advanced Placement class also reads the "Marriage 
Group," the Knight's Tale and the Prioress's Tale. The AP students use 
an interlinear translation and are encouraged to try to read the Middle 
English.  All references to the text in that class are read in the ME so 
that they can hear it. The other students read a poetry translation.  

We do many different kinds of ancillary activities and projects with the 
students to involve them in the material.  A favorite at all levels is 
writing a description of themselves as the 31st pilgrim.  They have to 
assume Chaucer's voice, establish a character for themselves (most 
project themselves 20 years into the future), and maintain the rhyme and 
meter of the GP.  Another activity involves creating a "Wanted Poster" 
for one of the pilgrims.  Some of the best have been done on the 
Pardoner and the Friar, but the funniest ever was a wanted poster for a 
6th husband for WoB!

The GP lends itself to a thorough investigation of life in medieval 
England.  Students do investigative reports on medicine, physiognomy, 
the growth of the cities, clothing, guilds, the status of women, etc., 
etc., etc.

So, I guess the answer is: Yes, we _do_ successfully implement Chaucer 
in the high school curriculum!  

Linda Lorenzo
English Department Chair
Cranston High School East
Cranston, RI 02910

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Teaching Chaucer in High School 

I taught Chaucer a number of years ago when I taught English lit. I was able
to draw comparisons with Chaucer's world and my students' world. They could
see the corruption in their society in much the same way Chaucer did.

You might want to show _Becket_ to your students. This will give them the
basis for the pilgrimage in the first place.

I also picked up a great cd rom program on Chaucer from Zane Publishing.

Good luck.

Ken Zelasko
Las Vegas, Nevada

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Viruses

I expect that any clear understanding of viruses would have to follow an
understanding of the processes of transcription, where genetic
information, (particular sequences of nucleic acids on a DNA molecule),
are transformed into particular sequences of amino acids, which fold up
into shapes determined by the sequence.  The virus changes the instruction
set of the cell, so that, instead of expressing the genes that cause the
cell to do the cell's work, new DNA sequences are inserted to cause the
cell nucleus to transcribe sequences that code for more copies of the
virus.  The cell becomes a factory for copies of the virus, until it
bursts.  But to understand how the virus hijacks the cells own machinery
to perpetuate itself, (without thought, intent, or subjective experience),
one must first have some understanding of how the cell works normally. 

John Champagne  http://www.oocities.org/athens/1942

          Be sure to look at the relative sizes of these entities
          --cell--bacterium--virus--  to drive home the point that 
          they are very different from one another.
          j.c.

Imagine it is a free country... If you could ask Anyone to be president,
Who would you choose?

Could we find someone who most all of us know and trust, who has good ideas 
and speaks them clearly, who we would WANT to vote for?  Walter Cronkite 
would do it if we ask him.

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: chat rooms

On Mon, 25 Mar 1996, Scott Cohen, Head Librarian wrote:

>  . . . . [do] schools or colleges allow students to
> do chat on computers in laboratories or libraries.  

At the University of Texas at San Antonio, we are not allowed to use 
library terminals to connect to Lonestar accounts, which provide access 
to Internet applications, such as IRC and email.  In the computer lab 
and through dial-up modem, we can use IRC, but not between 8am and 5pm.

In IRC, chat rooms are called channels.  I believe these virtual meeting
places are like any other tool: they may be use in a way that promotes
learning and exploration, or not.  I have used IRC to share an idea I had
about the integration of economy and ecology through fees on the use of
natural resources, to keep the impact of human activity at sustainable 
levels.  The immediate feedback from others in the virtual meeting place 
helps me clarify my ideas, and develop skill in communicating them.  

I also use this most basic form of virtual reality, (a form of a MUD, or 
Multiple User Dimension), to let people know that I think Walter Cronkite 
would be a good, maybe a great president, and that he would do it if we 
ask him (but he believes someone who has made their name as a journalist 
ought not promote themselves).  

John Champagne           http://www.oocities.org/athens/1942

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Excitement, enthusiasm and meaning, was Re: Bravo Barry!

On Tue, 2 Apr 1996, Steve Gunter wrote:

> Ed Friends, 
> 
> . . .  Why aren't we excited about our kids? Why 
> aren't we encouraging these first year teachers?  Why is the poison 
> . . . .   
> dominating so many of our schools? 

I wonder if we might have more enthusiasm among teachers and students 
alike if the schools were not a place where all controversial and 
dissenting views have been expunged.  We describe and accommodate 
ourselves to the way things are, but perhaps neglect to discuss the way 
we would like things to be.  


We teach 'spring forward' and 'fall back', because a legislative body has
decided that we will change our clocks twice a year.  We do this
apparently without any consideration given to the fact that the practice
of changing the clocks introduces a disorienting change in the
relationship of the day/night cycle to our daily activities, (which might
not be a problem, except that it is only by noticing the subtle changes
throughout the year in the day/night cycle can we gain a thorough
understanding of the cycle of the seasons, and what it can tell us about
our place in the cosmos and our relationship with the earth-sun system). 
Teaching 'Daylight Savings Time' takes time and attention away from teaching 
other, more meaningful things.  Experiencing 'Daylight Savings Time' 
steals attention from the more subtle changes taking place in the timing 
of sunrise and sunset.

We teach that growing certain plants may result in imprisonment, even 
though no one is harmed.  (Or we do not teach this, but ignore it 
completely.)

We tell children to eat good food, to get adequate nutrition, go to the
cafeteria and consume what is offered.  We say little or nothing about the
fact that what is offered there will cause disease later in life; and is
produced at relatively high cost to the environment in terms of land,
water and energy used, and pollution produced; and produced at a high cost 
to the individual animals whose lives are spent in the animal agriculture
industry, in terms of suffering, confinement, restriction of basic
freedoms of movement, of opportunities to breathe fresh air...

The idea of meaning is synonymous with the idea of difference.  "What 
difference does it make?" is the same as "What does it mean?"

If students are convinced that their entire education consists of things
that are void of controversy, if they see that there is no discussion of
what is versus what ought to be, then they are more likely to conclude
that their education makes no difference. 

Education can make a difference, can have meaning, only to the extent 
that it is willing to challenge assumptions and conventions, and question 
the rationale for the status quo.

I think we ought to keep this in mind when asking how we can promote a 
sense of enthusiasm and excitement in teaching.

John Champagne

Ask ANYONE to be president.... Who would you choose?

Walter Cronkite would do it if we ask.  
(I stole/adapted this question from him.)

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu 
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" 
<ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu Subject: 
Re: Presidential Election 

Many people are quite dissatisfied with the results of our political
system.  The candidates for public office do not seem to represent the
very best that this country has to offer.  We often vote with the feeling
that we are choosing among unappealing alternatives: 'the lesser of
evils'. For voters to persist in this state of mind is not a healthy state
of affairs for a democratic society.  An opportunity to choose among
unappealing alternatives is a corruption of the idea of 'choice', and will
not long remain a cherished freedom. 

So, if you could ask anyone to be your next president, (and in a free
country, we should all be free to ask who we WANT, and have our vote
counted,) who would you choose?  Think about it.  Talk about it. Pass on
the question.  We could do better. 

Perhaps part of our problem is the highly partisan nature of the selection
process. We may want to look for someone who we trust, respect and admire,
AND who many other people also trust, respect and admire. 

John Champagne  jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu  www.oocities.org/athens/1942

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Copyright

Science News ran an article, "When Not to Photocopy", on 12/2/95.

It inspired this response, from 'Letters', 3/9/96:

        Your article caused me serious concern.
        Many of my faculty colleagues routinely photocopy 
        material from journals, and sometimes they 
        even distribute photocopies to classes or to 
        their research groups.  They are not aware, 
        I am sure, that they may be in hot water.

        Therefore, I photocopied your article and 
        distributed it in all the faculty and staff 
        mailboxes in our department.

                Jimmie G. Edwards
                Professor of Chemistry
                University of Toledo
                Toledo, Ohio


John

Walter Cronkite for President!    www.oocities.org/athens/1942

From: Sandie Lee Walser <walsersl@tenet.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: mathematics

        Academic Technical Algebra is an integrated curriculum of games, 
activities, labs, technology that is not copyrighted.  Each district or 
region can buy a set from the Panhandle Tech Prep Consortium  
806-354-4300 and recopy 
to your hearts content.   (The cost only covers printing and 
shipping.--There is no profit as this was done on a grant.)
 When copied 
front and back the curriculum is 
something like 6 to 8 inches thick as it includes the masters for 
cardstock copying and making the various games.

This curriculum was developed by 7 working high school teachers (not 
administrators and researchers).  It is set up by topic areas and each 
unit is independent upon other topics.  Some schools use it as a start 
for their curriculum while others use it as a resource.  Summer 
workshops can be scheduled to demonstrate the material and help your 
teachers implement the different contextual approach. Has to be summer as 
the teachers have their own classes in the school year.

Contact Panhandle Tech Prep directly for ordering, but you may e-mail me 
for additional information and clarification about the material.

Sandie Walser                   voice   806-354-9636  evenings
Palo Duro High School           e-mail  walsersl@tenet.edu

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Tutees Wanted -- Global Tutoring Begins

Early last Spring, the concept of "global tutoring" was introduced at the
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.
Since then, some 300 educators, teachers, trainers, tutors, parents,
students, business people and interested individuals from 26 countries
have created -- on the Internet -- The International Tutoring (IT)
Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization charged with developing,
introducing and refining the "global tutoring" concept. 

Today, a year later, members of IT's committees and subscribers using the
Tutor-L conference at St-Johns University (New York) and the IT home page
at Simon Fraser University (British Columbia) have refined the
Internet-based global tutoring concept to the point where it is now being
offered worldwide -- on an experimental basis -- as a new means for
supplementing the traditional schooling or face-to-face tutoring
experience of any primary, secondary, post-secondary and continuing
education student with access to the Internet. 

Students -- or their parents, guardians or teachers -- are cordially
invited to complete and submit a brief Global Tutee application form to: 

    Ms. Ann Parsons
    Chairperson, IT Evaluation Committee
    Online Assistant to the EASI Chair
    E-mail:  AKPGSH@rit.edu (or) AKPGSH@ritvax.isc.rit.edu

Depending on the Global Tutor, the subject being taught and the level of
the student, Global Tutor fees typically range from free to $40 (US)/hour.
Typically, global tutoring fees are FREE to $15/hour with only a few
advanced subject areas at the post-secondary level requiring higher fees.
The Global Tutee (or his/her sponsors), of course, have the final say in
the selection, retention and dismissal of the Global Tutor (in
consultation with and recommendations from the IT Evaluation Committee). 

All global tutoring is monitored by the IT Evaluation Committee which is
charged with assessing the qualifications and performance of Global Tutors
and matching their tutoring/teaching experience with the Global Tutee's
individual learning needs. Twenty percent of all fees paid are retained to
incorporate IT as a non-profit charitable organization, to provide monies
for Global Tutee bursaries for students whose families pass a needs test,
and to cover related administrative costs. The balance is snail-mailed to
the Global Tutor on a monthly basis. 

To obtain a Global Tutor or Global Tutee (student) application form or
further information about global tutoring and the non-profit, charitable
International Tutoring Foundation, please visit the IT Web Site: 

    Global Tutor Foundation

Respectfully, ............................................................................ Michael Berns, Ed.D. Candidate Exec. Dir., Intl. Tutoring Foundation University of Toronto/OISE For info re subscribing to Tutor-L & TutrVote 252 Bloor St. W., 8th Floor or obtaining Global Tutor/Tutee applications, Toronto, Ont. M5S 1V6 Canada please visit the IT Home Page: E-mail: <mberns@oise.on.ca http://edie.cprost.sfu.ca/~it http://www.oise.on.ca/~mberns/ParentAid.html http://www.oise.on.ca/~mberns/RoboSearch.html

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Earth Day Groceries - Update

I hope everyone knows that Earth Day groceries are whole foods, plants, 
grown organically, in good soil, and that they include little or no 
animal products, and certainly no animal products from the present animal 
agriculture industry, which produces unhealthy products at very high cost 
to the environment and the animals involved.  Every day should be Earth Day.

For good information and teaching aids that present the connection 
between our diet choices and our health, and the health of the 
ecosystem, write to EarthSave, PO Box 949, Felton, CA  95018-0949

John Champagne   http://www.oocities.org/athens/1942

Walter Cronkite for President!  (he would do it if we ask him.)

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: HTML is easy, was re: Student Made Web Pages

Thanks to Lorie for telling us how easy it is to learn html.  Print files
that you like, and the source code for those files, and examine them to
discover what codes produce the desired effects.  Children can do this. 
It is a great experience in puzzle and problem solving for them to view a
few web pages, especially pages created by other children, then explore
the source code, which reveals all the instructions to the browser about
how to display the page, then move on to incorporate their new knowledge
of this language to present their own works in html format. 

There are free services that will give a 1 meg web page (divisible into
many smaller pages) to anyone with an email address (with the only
requirement that a small pointer that links to an index of all
subscribers, where ads are sold, be somewhere on the page). 

http://www.oocities.org  Geocities Free Web Page  (anyone know of others?)

http://www.oocities.org/athens/1942  my page

John Champagne

Imagine you could ask anyone to be president... Who would you choose?

This question borrowed, adapted from one put out by Walter Cronkite.
(We could take a hint.  He would do it if we ask him.)

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Art Museum Re: teacher resources on-line

I would like to see some acknowledgement of the point that Clifford Stoll
makes so energetically, that no homepage, no internet download can compare
with an actual experience of visiting a museum, watching an artist work
with material, or having a conversation with a friend--in person. 

Beyond that, I would like to see an art museum homepage offer a discussion
of the history of art--the history of our practice of working with
materials to produce symbolic forms; and, perhaps, how the working of
material for symbol and for utility produced a synergy that produced an
explosion of growth in human culture.  How does the use of symbol affect
the levels of complexity that are possible in human society?  In thought? 

John Champagne  jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu  www.oocities.org/athens/1942

Ask anyone to be president.... Who would you choose?

Walter Cronkite would do it if we asked.


To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Cliff Stoll's interview on CSPAN/Art Museums...

>I would like to see some acknowledgement of the point that Clifford Stoll
>makes so energetically, that no homepage, no internet download can compare
>with an actual experience of visiting a museum, watching an artist work
>with material, or having a conversation with a friend--in person.

I too saw the interview with Mr. Stoll this weekend on CSpan -- and I agree
in part with this statement.

However, I disagree with this as a blanket statement. Students only get to
visit a choice few museums, planetariums, etc. during their 12-16 years of
schooling. Why NOT say it's perfectly okay for them to visit these same
sites via the Internet (many in other countries entirely) -- since there's
a good chance they'd never get to visit most of them in their lifetime.

I for one greatly enjoy visiting the Berkeley Museum of Paleontology out
in California via the Web -- I'm probably correct in saying that I'll never
get out there to see it in my lifetime. It contains stunning walk-throughs
of their dinosaur exhibits, in-depth information about evolution, etc.

Anyone else have some words of wisdom on this topic?

:-)

------------------------------------
 Tim McLain
 Senior Internet Writer
 Classroom Connect
 Email: tmc@classroom.net
 URL: http://www.classroom.net
------------------------------------

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Youth wearing offensive symbols, Re: Dream Snatchers and HELP

On Thu, 2 May 1996, MONICA TILLOTSON wrote:

> . . . . I have a problem that involves my nephew.
>  . . . .
> First with smoking, then we think (we're pretty sure) he's into drugs, and
> last week he carved [a] swastika on his forearm. 
> . . .
> Monica                

Definitely let him know, privately, that he will not display his swastika 
in your home.  I would think that at no time would it be acceptable, even 
if you knew your parents would not be comming over, because this symbol 
and what it refers to is offensive to yourself, not just to your parents.  

He claimed that this symbol means nothnig to him.  You might ask him to
adopt another symbol that 'means nothing' to himself, as this one does
represent hatred, murder and oppression to others who are familiar with
its history. 

Regarding smoking cigarettes and using drugs: Smoking cigarettes IS using
a drug.  Cigarettes cause much more severe health problems and are much
more difficult to quit than, say, cannabis (marijuana).  

When discussing use of drugs, if you could let him know that you recognize
that our legal system prohibits what is relatively harmless, while
allowing things that are relatively harmful could go a long way toward
establishing credibility. 

Most of all, express how you feel.  If your concern is that he not break 
rules that are inviolable, then say so.  If your concern is that he not 
make decisions now that will adversely affect his health and well-being 
in the future, say so.  Remember to keep a clear distinction between the 
person and the actions, the behavior, of the person.  Also, keep a 
distinction between the use of offensive symbols, and the actual acts 
that those symbols represent.  

Good Luck!

John Champagne     http://www.oocities.org/athens/1942

Ask ANYONE to be president...  Who would you choose?

Walter Cronkite would do it if we ask him.

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: non-academic e-journals

I rather prefer that users pay for what they use. But I also like the
idea of public libraries, (which already pay a library rate, in many
cases, which is higher than the standard rate). I would expect public
libraries to offer terminals where people could access on-line
publications. But I would want a library with the where-with-all to
offer a wide variety of print publications, so that the on-line (and
interactive) version is an addition to, not a replacement of, a superb
medium, the magazine. (But let's convert to hemp paper.)

Technology Review just did an editorial on this issue, making the point,
better than I can here, that magazines are in the business of providing
reliable, relevant information. Their expertise as content providers
will always be needed, even if the methods of delivery of the information
change.

The change to distribution through computer networks represents a
*decrease* in the cost of publishing and distribution, and, although we may
have to pay for access, this is no different from our present custom of
paying a subscription fee. We may find that the access fee will cover all
the operating costs, thus eliminating the need for advertising. One
advantage of users paying for what they use is that providers do not have
to appeal to advertisers to pay for it. Advertising has an effect on
content, and it is refreshing to see what the world might look like
without it. For a glimpse, read 'Ms'. Refreshing. Maybe I should add:
sobering.

Alternatively, we could have free access, but with advertisements, and,
who knows, with smart networks, you could get just the advertisements that
you have some actual interest in....

Perhaps the advertisers could pay the consumers directly to watch the
ads, rather than paying networks and magazines, and the people use the
income to pay for the articles they want....

Speaking of magazines, 'Scholastic Update', March 1984, has Walter
Cronkite explaining to some high school students why he, why a television
journalist, ought not run for president. Then a couple years later, he
put out a survey asking, "Besides those who appear to be running, who do
you think might make a good president?". We could take a hint. He will
not run, but he would do it if we ask him.

John Champagne

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Which Came First?

> > Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes came first.
 
> > Barry Kort
 
> Which came first, "functional" conglomerations of amino acids,
> or strands of nucleic acids that code for such conglomerations?
 
> John    http://www.oocities.org/athens/1942

There is an active debate on how the DNA/RNA coding system got
started.  One theory is that it evolved from 'PNA', another
poly-nucleic acid with a different backbone than DNA and RNA.

I'm sorry, but I don't have the reference at hand to a recent
article on this research.  It's a fascinating detective story
which should interest anyone who cares to understand how
self-replicating molecules gave rise to life as we know it.

Barry Kort
Since this was written, I have learned that RNA has essential features 
of both nucleic acids and amino acids.  It is both autocatalytic, (tending 
to make copies of itself), and biochemically functional, like proteins. -- J.C.

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Climate change/curriculum change;  Re: heat

Increases in greenhouse gases, e.g.: carbon dioxide and methane, 
will not only increase temperatures, but will also increase the severity 
of extremes, whether hot or cold, high pressure or low.  

Can we, should we justify omitting all discussion of the ecological costs of 
our diet choices from the curriculum?  Is it not time to start addressing the 
fact that there are significant differences among various foods in terms of 
the environmental costs of producing them?  I think such discussion is overdue.  

It is our responsibility to see that the younger generation develops the
knowledge and wisdom that they will need to adapt to THEIR world.  One
condition of that world may be atmosphere and oceans overburdened with
pollution and combustion products of fossil fuels.  We perform a great
disservice when we act as if there is nothing to consider when making diet
choices, beyond what tastes good, what provides for our nutrient needs,
what will help us loose weight.  Providing for our nutritional needs is 
the human activity that produces the greatest impact on the environment.  
It is worth exploring the environmental/ecological impact of the various 
modes of food production.  We neglect these issues at our own peril, but 
also at the peril of the generations who grow up after us, who must rely 
on the same natural systems which sustain our lives today.

For information and materials:

        EarthSave Foundation
        Post Office Box 949
        Felton, CA  95018-0949

John Champagne

Imagine you could ask anyone to be President.... Who would you choose?

If you like this question, pass it on...  and thank Walter Cronkite.
(Cronkite said why a journalist ought not run for president, but a couple 
of years later, he put out this question.  We could take a hint.)

http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/ip.html  our projects

http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/work.html the kid's work

http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/club.html  the computer club

http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/cylib.html  our Cyber library

I use it for lesson plans and for CNN Lessons that I use in class

 

 I've used the Net in all classes.  Go to "http://www.wentworth.com/" for an

educational resources search engine and simply type in the subject or topic

for which you want to use the Web in your lessons.  Also, I hope to have a

list of sites which I've actually used in lessons on one of my pages

(http://www.epix.net/~mrminich/).  Also visit my page to see practical uses

of a web page to support your classes such as students grades, course

syllabus, due dates, practice tests, pictures of class activities (a hit

with parents), student portfolios.  Soon I hope to add interactive pages

which allow students to do their homework on the Internet and which allows

parents to debate/discuss topics with the class. 

 

 Internet uses

I have enlisted the help of mentors from around the United States to work with my high school
education students. It has been great for all of us. I have also had some students "turned on" to
learning when they realize that there is a world beyond these walls. There are "surfers" out there
ready and willing to encourage students and help them with information that they don't have. It
also makes access to material so much easier and the within the media center's budget. They
couldn't buy enough reference material to even come close to what is available. This month, for
the first time, I've begun using TENET (Texas Ed Net) with my students to search college
libraries for information for their research papers. Although this is not hardly even scratching the
surface, the kids love it, and it has been quite helpful.

gopher://ericir.syr.edu:70/00/Lesson/CNN/Current/Feb%2009%20Classroom%20g

>CNN news provides ...If you go to ASK Eric you will find the CNN Lesson Plans. They power
on early AM so you can use them that day in school. Here is the site http://ericir.sunsite.syr.edu/.
We are a web server. We have our own domain and IP address: 199.233.193.1 So I can have
252 clients running from our server, Currently only 40 clients are running.. Budget constraints
do not allow for bringing our other computers up to snuff. In fact, we are one of the few k12 sites
in this country that is its own site. Most are clients Visit our homepage and you will find three
examples that may satisfy your query in part. One is the Reference Desk, our collection of
suggested research sites for our students. Two is a set of two sample lessons that incorporate
Internet resources. Three is the set of FFA pages that were created as a project by one of our
seniors. The PHS homepage is located at: http://isbe.state.il.us/~peohs One use of the Internet
that I am presently pursuing is having my advanced science students correspond with actual scientists
about their actual research. We are planning to use e-mail to send attachments including the latest
publications of the particular researchers. Our district doesn't provide e-mail accounts, however I
have located a community network that we can telnet for free access. We're excited about the project.
So far this semester my students have been using the web to find research institutions, their principal
investigators, descriptions of their research focus and e-mail addresses. I teach college prep writing
classes to juniors and seniors in my own computer lab. In a couple weeks, I should have my first
direct WWW link so my students can search the internet right from the room. Presently they may use
either of the two WWW search station in the media center, and I also do searches for them at night
from my home. My students write persuasive and opinion papers and one big research paper. They
search daily for opinions on everything from bi-racial adoptions to bigfoot to political correctness...
you name it, they look for it. It's become a significant new resource for my students, even though I
now need to teach new skills on how to sort out all the useless information from the smaller amounts
of good stuff. But I do like the dimension it's added to the kids' education. Try surfing to our school's
home page, it should help your case. su_eckhardt@shhs1.ccsd.k12.co.us For many ideas about using
the Internet in conjunction with teaching mathematics, check out the math Forum at Math Forum at
Swarthmore I think, #1, it allows those that are unable to speak or are uncomfortable talking in front of
peers to do so. It allows or gives teachers another tool to access the hard to reach student. #2. It
increases self esteem. When one receives e-mail for the first time, the experience is unforgettable.
#3. It opens doors so students might find someone else that is interested in what they are. My knowledge
is limited, but all I know, that it is yet another tool we have access to do a better job. I like the idea of
having students compare print material with on-line resources, commentaries to determine bias, slant, etc.
A good activity would be to use the Enola Gay Smithsonian Exhibit as an issue to research (there is a
wealth of information/commentary on this topic.) I am currently doing a project with all my classes using
WWW resources on Latin American countries. Students are downloading web pages and saving them in
plain text format so they can run them off from class and use them in reports. The final reports will be done
in English, but they are still learning a great deal about culture from the sites we visit. I have also used news
resources, email, newsgroups and other similar sources to supplement the materials we read in class. I have
found each new experience enriches the content of all the courses I teach.

jhoerr@heartland.bradley.edu

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu

On Sat, 25 May 1996, Stacey Lynn Mactaggart wrote:

> I . . . was ultra honest.  . . . .
> I don't know if principals want honesty . . . . 

> Stacey MacTaggart

Honesty is the best policy.  Just don't tell him (?) you don't like his 
tie, or that you think he's too fat, or that he should stop eating dead 
animals, all things considered.  (At least, not right away.)  

Speaking of honesty, I like to share a question that I got from Walter 
Cronkite:  Besides those who appear to be running, who do you think might 
make a good president?  He has my vote.  And Franklin Thomas.

John Champagne  jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu  www.oocities.org/athens/1942

From: June  Julian <jqj3882@is2.NYU.EDU
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: TREES! Perfect Project for Earth Day/Anytime

June Julian
"A World Community of Old Trees"
An Ecology Art Project on the World Wide Web
http://www.nyu.edu/projects/julian/
Program in Art Education
New York University
julianj@acf2.nyu.edu

 INSTRUCTIONS FOR EARTH WEEK  April 15-22
for "A World Community of Old Trees", an Ecology Art Project on the Web

Fun for Earth Week, Earth Day, April 22; Arbor Day, April 26;
or any time!

Please check out the Table of Contents for an overview of the project.
You can contribute to the TREE GALLERY, TREE MUSEUM, or TREE TALK 
Sections via e-mail or snail mail

"A World Community of Old Trees"
An Ecology Art Project on the World Wide Web
for Artists Everywhere
and with a Special Section for Art Teachers and their Students in grades 7-12
http://www.nyu.edu/projects/julian/

If you want to join kids all over the world in finding the oldest, 
largest, or most extraordinary trees in their neighborhoods, 
Here's what you have to do:
  *Open your eyes!  Ask Questions!  Get a Tree Guide!  A really good one 
   is The 1996 National Register of Big Trees
  *Locate the oldest, largest, or most noteworthy tree in your neighborhood
  *Identify your tree with its common name and Latin one, too
  *Measure your tree 54 inches from the ground
  *Take a photo of it
  *Write a paragraph or two describing your tree, any history you can find,
   and how you feel standing next to it
  *Be sure to tell us the exact location, measurement, and approximate age
  *Make some art work about the tree, (a painting, drawing, print,etc.)
  *Scan your art and photo and save them as gif files (not to exceed 50 K)
  *Then, e-mail your tree art, your tree photo, and your tree text to me.
   It's easy with "Eudora" or your favorite mail program
  *Or, you can send them Snail Mail
  *Remember to identify your art work with your name, title, medium, 
   size, and the name of your school
   When I receive your files, I'll put them up in our Tree Gallery for 
   world to see!
  *Send me e-mail!  Ask me questions!

HAVE FUN!  I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOUR TREES!

June Julian
New York University
Department of Art and Arts Professions
Program in Art Education
Barney Building  Suite 3000
34 Stuyvesant St.
New York, NY  10003-7599

julianj@acf2.nyu.edu 
                                                                     

                                                                       
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Cliff Stoll's interview on CSPAN/Art Museums...

I read Stoll, and he touts the joy of thumbing through the card catalogue
among other things. He speaks of finding associated items as he flips cards
and he may have a small point relavent to Sunday browsers and folks with
time to spare. Most people want an efficient system which extends the
flexibility of library catalogues beyond the capability of the card
catalogue or the human brain (most people don't do boulean searches in a
manual card catalogue). Stoll is wrong in his approach to the web a
homepage can, and a download will compare very favorably to a visit to a
museum, watching an artist work and having a conversation with a real
person.

What Stoll is doing is trapping the uninformed in a dualistic argument
about the 'net vs reality. What he really wants to do is run his fame
beyond his 15 seconds and sell books. If he really believed his words he
would get off of the net and start showing up at every museum, art galery
and art space in the world so he could maintain his high level of real
interaction with real people face to face.

>>I would like to see some acknowledgement of the point that Clifford Stohl
>>makes so energetically, that no homepage, no internet download can compare
>>with an actual experience of visiting a museum, watching an artist work
>>with material, or having a conversation with a friend--in person.
>
>However, I disgaree with this as a blanket statement. Students only get to
>visit a choice few museums, planetariums, etc. during their 12-16 years of
>schooling. Why NOT say it's prefectly okay for them to visit these sames
>sites via the Internet (many in other countries entirely) -- since there's
>a good chance they'd never get to visit most of them in their lifetime.
>

I agree with Tim McLain and would go on to say that we have gotten used to
video tape even though it is only two dimensional imagery which will never
duplicate the full screen film experience of OMNImax. And we all don't need
to enter the museum of life and go to the latest murder site to get the
real feeling of seeing dead burnt bodies rotting on the ground. And we
don't need to go and talk to some of our angry black neighbors about how
the government is giving to the rich cats and sticking it to the poor on
the stage of North America.

>I for one greatly enjoy visiting the Berkelet Museum of Palenontology out
>in California via the Web -- I'm probably correct in saying that I'll never
>get out there to see it in my lifetime. It contains stunning walk throughs
>of their dinosaur exhibits, in-depth information about evolution, etc.
>

Again I agree with Tim McLain and would add that going to the internet site
28 times (my whole class on their own) at maybe $0.05 a visit is better
than flying all of us to Berkley about $25 000 ($900 each) plus admission,
etc. to walk through a great plastic exhibit once.

Don't get me wrong there is a lot to be gained by experiencing fine
exhibits but Stoll is just selling books when he says we should all go for
the real thing. He doesn't. He has a web site where you can contract his
speaking services, buy his books and help the hypocrite out...


Al West                         'Anyone who knows anything at all about
Teacher SD#60 (Peace R. North)   computing knows that the technology
Taylor Elementary School         of the Mac is better' - Douglas Adams
   awest@cln.etc.bc.ca

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Climate change/curriculum change; Re: heat

On Mon, 20 May 1996, John C. Champagne wrote:

> Increases in greenhouse gases, e.g.: carbon dioxide and methane, 
> will not only increase temperatures, but will also increase the severity 
> of extremes, whether hot or cold, high pressure or low.  

  Slipping into my flame-retardant suit......

  That greenhouse gases will PROBALY increase global temperatures is still
a theory, albeit a widely accepted one.  Whether or not a greenhouse-gas-
induced temp. increase will lead to greater climatic extremes is less 
clear.
There are some theories which state that a slight increase in temperature
will lead to an increase in cloud cover, which will in turn reflect more
solar energy back into space and counter the warming effect.  I'm not
saying that this theory is true, mind you.


  I am all in favor of reducing activites which cause massive releases
of greenhouse gases (since we aren't sure what these will do to the planet).
BUT... if you say this is necessary because you are CERTAIN that greenhouse
gases will cause greater extremes, you invite criticism from those who say
that there is no PROOF of  danger from burning fossil fuels, etc.
 
> It is our responsibility to see that the younger generation develops the
> knowledge and wisdom that they will need to adapt to THEIR world.  

  This includes separating fact from theory, as best we can.

> It is worth exploring the environmental/ecological impact of the various 
> modes of food production.  We neglect these issues at our own peril, but 
> also at the peril of the generations who grow up after us, who must rely 
> on the same natural systems which sustain our lives today.
>

  John, I agree with the value of exploring these options.  I just think
that we do a disservice to this position by stating the certainty of
doom-and-gloom when we don't have proof of the dangers.  You get fewer
arguments by saying something like, "It's best not to modify something
(like the climate) when you a.  depend upon it, and b.  don't fully
understand how it works."  This is the 'conservative' position (in
the same sense of 'conserve' as in the word 'conservation').
 

Tom Johnson, Gilberts, IL |   From file corruptions, and FAULT interruptions,
tjohnson@interaccess.com  |   And daemons that 'dump' in the night.
 Still a fan of the       |   Good Lord, deliver us.  
 Austin Lounge Lizards.   |              ---Old English litany, revised a bit.

From: "John C. Champagne"<jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu 
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" 
<ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu 
Subject: on parents calling teachers in class; Re: A Metaphor For What is 
Wrong With Schools


On Sun, 31 Mar 1996, Chip Guest wrote:

>  . . . .  I was then asked if I was a 
> parent of a child that attended that school. I replied that I was
> not. 
> 
> The reply was "Then I will put you through to his class".
> 
> I guess the way you get to talk to the teachers here is to deny
> that you are a parent.
> 
> So much for parental involvement. 
> 
> In any event it bothered me that I was put through to his class
> while he was teaching, but then if I were a parent there, I guess
> I never would have gotten through..
> 
> Chip   

My immediate response to this was the same as yours, but then, on 
reflection, a policy of forwarding calls to teachers during class from 
parents of children in that class could be much more problematic than 
forwarding calls from people not directly and personally connected to the 
students in that class.  I would expect that all the parents will have 
been informed, or could be informed upon calling, when the teacher is 
available for conference.

The practice of forwarding calls to a classroom need not be a problem in
itself, as long as the phone is 'no ring--unobtrusive blinking light',
which can be ignored or not noticed if the time is not right.  I like the
idea of classrooms, teachers, students having the opportunity to receive
calls from people who they want to hear from, as part of a day's learning. 
It is easier to ignore a small blinking light, though, if you know for
certain that it will never be a parent calling with an emergency, as those
messages will be relayed by office staff, if need be. 

John Champagne   http://www.oocities.org/athens/1942

Walter Cronkite for President!  Franklin Thomas for President!

They would do it if we ask them.  Pass it on...

To: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
cc: Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: on parents calling teachers in class; Re: A Metaphor For What is Wrong With Schools

This is an interesting idea, that a parent can't get through to the room 
but others can.  I have found the phone in my elem. classroom to be to my 
advantage.  I would much rather field a phone call with my children in 
front of me rather than being "called to the office" to receive a phone 
call.  At that time I have to wonder what is going on in the unattended 
classroom. In my classroom,  I can monitor my children and quickly reply to 
the caller.  
My parents know my classroom has a phone and several of them have the 
private number, but it has not been abused at all.  Personally, I think it's 
great that we educators have finally been treated as professionals and 
trusting with the technology marvels, such as computers on our desks and  
phones in the rooms.  :-)
Sometimes the children will hear an announcement, such as a club meeting 
has been canceled or such, it is a relief for them to simply ask to call 
home and inform Mom that plans have changed.  It takes only a couple of 
minutes and they do not have to worry any more.  Little things, I have 
seen, do make the difference. 
Have a good one. 

******************************************************************
JoAnn P. Stanley                        Blountville, Tennessee
"Together We can Make a Difference"     Elementary  Educator

From: pitsco@pitsco.com
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Free Science Materials

Mr. Wizard's Free Science TV
Educators can call for a free monthly newsletter with tips on teaching
science using this Nickelodeon program.
1 (800) 258-2344

Science in Action
Write for a free Science in Action Video, poster and student activity
sheets for kids in grades K-4. Include school name and grade level with
your request.
Science in Action
PO Box 3252
Chicago, IL 60654-9969

Scientific American
Free teacher's kit. Contains instructional materials and teaching ideas.
1 (800) 377-9414

Spacesuit Poster Offer
NASA is offering a color poster which details information on the
"intricacies of the spacesuit". To receive this poster and other
information, write to:
Request Spacesuit, WED-109
NASA Educational Publications
Code FEP
Washington, D.C. 20546

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Public Relations; Re: A Metaphor For What is Wrong With Schools

On Wed, 15 May 1996 Hazel.VerMulm@uni.edu wrote:

> Tell us, William King, what is wrong with any public service group telling the
> public what it is doing right?  If they do not do it, who will?  Certainly not
> the public who believes it has all the answers already.

May I, John Champagne, also answer the question of what is wrong with a
public service group telling the public what they are doing right? 

The public may prefer that their experiences with the service, and direct,
unmediated communication, interaction with service recipients be their
source of information about quality and value of the service, rather than
any advertisement or presentation from a public relations firm.  Any time
spent watching such is time spent away from that direct experience and
interaction.  (Well, in all fairness, such presentations or
advertisements, when shared with the people most directly involved, might
spark a conversation about how that money might have been spent, if not on
the presentation... Or about how the presentation falls short in its
description of reality.) 

I would like to see more money spent on bringing magicians and musicians
and potters and weavers to school.  Magicians can entertain, but they can
also help learners understand how some people can use distraction to
prevent others from noticing what is really going on. 

John Champagne   http://www.oocities.org/athens/1942

Walter Cronkite for President!   Franklin Thomas fro President!

From: nancy.herron@tpwd.state.tx.us
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: "Exploring Texas" nature & culture pilot project

EXPLORING TEXAS 

    Texas Parks & Wildlife invites you to join us in a partnership. You will 
embark on a journey that we hope will provide an exciting and memorable learning 
adventure about the place in which you live and make you part of a statewide 
project that will create a body of knowledge about Texas gathered by the youth 
of Texas. 
    You and your group will do the exploring.  In turn, you will have the 
opportunity on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Internet web site to share your 
knowledge with others about the wonders of where you live.  The topic could be 
about your cultural heritage, the natural resources surrounding you, or an issue 
about which you are deeply concerned. 

    WHO CAN APPLY?  
Teachers ( Grades K - 12) and Community Youth Group Leaders

    HOW DO YOU APPLY?
Complete an application form to apply for acceptance. Applicants will need to  
(1) have the ability to work a Macintosh or PC  computer or have ready access to 
someone who has that ability and 
(2) to make a commitment to take part in a field test of the project and to  
evaluate the outcome.

    WHEN  AND WHERE IS THE TRAINING SESSION?  
August 1 and 2 at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Austin, Texas. 

    WHAT DOES IT COST?
There are no fees associated with the introductory workshop, materials, or space 
on TP&W's Internet site.  

    WHAT MATERIALS WILL BE PROVIDED?  
TP&W will supply you with a manual, background on Texas ecoregions, resource 
directory,  template for the web pages., and other valuable materials to help 
you make this project successful.

    WHAT TOPICS MAY WE EXPLORE?
You'll be providing us with your topics or issues; the only prerequisite is that  
it relates to natural or cultural resources that the children will be 
investigating. Your final product may be observations, pictures, creative 
writing, etc. that will be displayed on Internet. 

    WHEN DO WE DO THE PROJECT?
You should complete your study sometime before the end of the 1996-97 school 
year. 
    
For more information and an application, please contact Nancy Herron, Texas 
Parks & Wildlife Department, 4200 Smith School Rd, Austin, TX  78744, (512) 389-
4362 or nancy.herron@tpwd.state.tx.us

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Holocaust curricula

There is a book and a video called "The Wave" about a group that
got out of hand in an experiment like you are talking about.  It is
a bit advanced for the elementary students, but middle schoolers could
really learn from it about peer pressure, etc.

You might also check your local area Jewish center.  Often they
have materials that you can borrow and even survivors who will come
and speak to your classes.  We have done this in San Antonio and
found it very enlightening - especially with gang members!

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: keyboarding

My suggestion for teaching keyboarding skills is to re-map the keyboard to
the dvorak or 'Simplified' keyboard pattern.  This puts the most often-
used letters on the home keys.  This encourages the use of the home keys,
as most words can be spelled with little or no movement off the home keys. 
(70% of keystrokes are on the home keys--Army research.) The QWERTY
pattern was designed to be slow and difficult to use, so that typists
would not go so fast that they would jam the bulky machines.  And it was 
designed to aid typewriter salesmen.  They could spell 'TYPEWRITER' from 
the top row without too much hunting around for the letters they needed. 

As a matter of principle, we ought not force children to adopt outmoded 
patterns of behavior, when clearly better patterns of behavior are 
available as an alternative.  Not in keyboarding.  Not in any facet of 
life.  

John Champagne

jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu    http://www.oocities.org/athens/1942

Ask ANYONE to be president.... Who would you choose?
This question adapted from one put out by Walter Cronkite.
We could take a hint:  He would do it if we ask him.

From: Alan Christie <achristi@cln.etc.bc.ca
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: keyboarding

I had thought that the Dvorak keyboard had lost its allure, but am glad 
to see that it is still in use.  I have taught keyboarding for over 20 
years, and see the Dvorak as more efficient than QWERTY.  Using Windows, 
it is a simple matter to change to Dvorak using Control Panel - 
[International (older Windows)] - Keyboard Layout - US Dvorak.  I moved my keycaps on my 
computer.  Both my children learned on QWERTY but are quite capable of 
switching between the two keyboards.  (Really, it's a bit like learning 
to speak two languages; you just have to remember occasionally which 
country you are in).

Al Christie 

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: environmental edu

Hello Amy,

If you have in mind a problem-solving, case-based approach there couple of
places you should check out, and adapt to your needs depending on the grade
level you have targeted.

1. Classroom of the Future's "Exploring the Environment" has a series of modules
which you can adapt to your needs: middle to high school level.  "Exploring
the Environment Project"  http://cotf.edu/ETE/

2. Earth System Science Community's curriculum has one year's worth of
projects which are intended to bring the experience of scientific
investigation to students (high school and undergrad) by assigning projects
which involve the use of data and modeling.  There are currently five
projects on the website (for the 95-96 academic year).  The first two are
introductory and shorter in duration; the latter are longer and last about
one quarter (1/2 semester) each.

For a start, try our project #1, Temperature Distribution on the Earth

Surface: Investigating Global and Local Temperature Trends

(Duration 4-5 weeks). The project schedule, summary, and resources are located at http://www.circles.org/ESSC/curric/EarthSystem/ESschedule.html 3. If you are interested in looking at the Arctic, I can send you a free CD-ROM, The Arctic Observatory, and an accompanying Teacher's Guide. The Arctic Observatory is a proof-of-concept CD-ROM designed to enable students in grades 9-16 to investigate the Arctic environment, using five data parameters with six-year coverage, and other supplementary resources. We also produced a CD-ROM about the environmental remediation of Kaho'olawe, and island in the Hawaiian Island chain which, until recently, was used as a bombing range by the US Navy. (The Office of Naval Research sponsored and provided data for both the Arctic and the Kaho'olawe CD-ROMs.) Send me your mailing address if you are interested. Farzad Mahootian, Ph.D. - Science and Education Applications ____________________________________________________________ E C O l o g i c C o r p o r a t i o n farzad@ecologic.net http://www.circles.org

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: computer literacy

America's Technology Literacy Challenge
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/New/edtech/0cont.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/New/edtech/2pager.html
Challenges to the private sector, schools, teachers, parents, students,
groups, state and local governments, and the federal government, to meet
the President's goals.

Emerging Consensus On Need for Technology Literacy Challenge
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/New/edtech/consen.html
Educators, business people, parents and students all agree that integrating
technology into classrooms curricula will increase the educational
achievement of the nations K-12 students.

Global Literacy in a Gutenberg Culture

http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/Guidelines/Global-Literacy-Rogers.html Pedagogical, political, social, cultural, and economic reasons why schools should consider telecommunications technologies as learning tools. The Information Highway: Littered with Roadkill? http://sunsite.unc.edu/cmc/mag/1995/jun/mosbacker.html What happens to moral, cultural, and functional literacy when educators focus on computers in the classroom? Stop Saying "Computer Literacy"! http://http.cs.berkeley.edu/~bh/stop.html Questions whether the idea that there is some basic familiarity with computers which all students need in order to compete in the job market, or to be informed citizens, is valid. Technology Literacy and Recruitment http://www.pacificrim.net/~mckenzie/FNOMar93.html This article focuses on the dual issues of expectations and the recruitment of new staff. Sincerely, Christine Chiu GUI Designer/webmaster *** For more resources see Pitsco Technology Education http://www.pitsco.com/p/resource.html

From: "Jennifer Sellers, NASA K-12 Internet Initiative" <sellers@quest.arc.nasa.gov
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Travel to MARS

NOW *YOU* CAN TRAVEL TO MARS!

In November and December 1996, NASA will launch two missions to Mars. Via 
the Internet and interactive video, students across America and around 
the world will have a unique opportunity to travel along with the robot 
spacecraft!

LIVE FROM MARS is the latest in the ongoing series of "electronic field 
trips" offered by PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE, the innovative distance learning 
project which created LIVE FROM ANTARCTICA and most recently LIVE FROM 
THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE. Together with NASA JPL's Mars Exploration 
Directorate, and with additional support from NSF and public television, 
LIVE FROM MARS will include: 4 live, interactive video programs 
accessible via PBS stations and NASA-TV; extensive online materials 
ranging from simple e-mail up to a graphics-rich Web site and 
opportunities for online collaborations; and a printed Teacher's Guide, 
poster, and other materials.

The Pathfinder mission is slated to land on Mars on July 4 1997. LIVE 
FROM MARS provides an opportunity to celebrate and understand humanity's 
exploration of our solar system as never before.

THE JULY 1996 TEACHER WORKSHOP AND "VIRTUAL WORKSHOP"

NASA, PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE and THE PLANETARY SOCIETY (the
world's largest non-governmental space interest group) are collaborating 
on a teacher training workshop in Washington D.C. July 18, 19 and 20 -- 
timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the successful Viking 
landings on Mars.

On July 20, PTK and NASA's K-12 Internet Initiative are taking the
workshop beyond the bounds of Washington, D.C., via the Internet and
NASA-TV. Using space-age technology, we are abolishing the
accidents of time and geography. The "Virtual Teacher's Workshop"
will allow remote participants to see and hear Mars mission
planners, educators who have been developing hands-on lesson plans,
and members of the PASSPORT TO KNOWLEDGE project who will
explain how live video and the Internet can bring Mars to your school or 
home!  Throughout the day, there will be opportunities not only to 
listen, but to interact via e-mail, CU-SeeMe, and WebChat.

This is the first-ever "virtual" teacher training workshop supported by
NASA. Be part of exploring the possibilities of cyberspace as we travel to
Mars. Who knows, the first humans to set foot on the Red Planet may be in
your classroom or nursery, right now, just waiting to receive the seeds of
discovery you'll see and hear on July 20! 

Join us in cyberspace at <http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/marsconf/index.html
and prepare for *your* upcoming journeys to Mars! 

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Introduction and Information

Greetings,

My name is Debbie Blailock and I am the Forum Manager for the TalkCity

Education Center

(http://www.talkcity.com/educenter) which is located as part of TalkCity (www.talkcity.com), an IRC based chat community. I am contacting you to inform you of some of the projects in which we are involved and to give you the information you need in order to join us. The TalkCity Education Center is an online education forum, offering those who have an interest in education related topics an opportunity to share ideas and insights. The TCEC serves the TalkCity community by offering conferences for Educators, Parents, and Students. The EduCenter, ParentChat and Youth Online channels are designed to facilitate communication between all who share the common interest in quality education! TCEC has several primary areas. The EduCenter Chat channel where our Educators discussions are held. The Youth Online Chat channel which has topical discussions of interest to Students where parent related discussions are held. The TalkCity EduCenter Web Site (http://www.talkcity.com/educenter), and the EduCenter Journal (a bi-weekly email newsletter). Contact Debbie@axon.net for details, or check out our web site for more information. In addition to the educafuture chat concepts include, parenting skills topics, book studies, support groups (ie parents of special needs students, etc), and school to school links for collaborative studies and projects. We will also be hosting trivia games based on educational content such as Science, Geography, and Social Studies. The EduCenter has already linked classes in different countries together, conducted student led research interviews, and linked students to other students for net pal or pen pal projects. This Fall we will be introducing weekly conferences Educational Software Developers, which will involve software experts, free give aways and more. A number of other programs are well into their development stages, again - aimed at a Fall introduction once school resumes. Our vision is that the student center will have everything from general chat, homework help, college prep sessions, games and trivia, not to mention conference topics of importance to youth such as divorce, peer relations, etc. Our biggest focus will be the school to school link where we can tie our educators and students together by linking classroom to classroom world wide for projects, net pals, and more! I hope you will consider becoming part of the TalkCity EduCenter and Youth Online communities as we take this journey. For more information on the EduCenter or how to access TalkCity (chat.talkcity.com), please drop me a line, I'll be more than happy to help you find us. Sincerely, Debbie =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Debbie Blailock Debbie@axon.net Forum Manager TalkCity Education Center http://www.talkcity.com/educenter The Future Belongs to those who Believe in the Beauty of their Dreams - E. Roosevelt =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: This week on Tech Talk

Where Millions of people travel to get updated
on what's hot in the world of Infotainment.

What is Tech Talk:
Tech Talk is a global radio talk show that mixes the best of the
Entertainment and Technology world.

Tech Talk begins at 1-3pm CST (6-8pm GMT).  

Click here to listen  --->   http://www.audionet.com/ttalk.htm
                                        http://www.ttalk.com
         
Studio Lines are always open  800/320-7589 or 1-815-726-1234

Tech Talk office number is 800/411-6968 or 1-708-614-7302  

***   If you would like to Subscribe to Tech Talk's Daily Hot New 
***   Send email to NEWS@TTALK.COM or click  here mailto:News@ttalk.com

To send us email  Ken@ttalk.com________________________________________________________________________
                                                                        |
Ken Rutkowski                   Tech Talk Network                       |
                                        Connection For Techformation    |
Toll Free   - 1-800/411-6968    17525 South 71st Court                  |
Direct Dial - 1-708/614-7302    Tinley Park, IL 60477  USA              |
Fax         - 1-708/614-7550    http://www.ttalk.com                    |
Ken@ttalk.com                   http://www.ttalk.com/news.html          |
________________________________________________________________________|
                                                                        |
The Dan & Scott Show (and Sometimes Ken)        1-888-COMEDY-1          |
The first live interactive comedy talk show     1-888-266-3391          |
                                                http://www.radiofun.com |
________________________________________________________________________|

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Science and computers in the classroom

Sarah,

Some Science software that I have used or previewed that I would 
recommend:
Magic School Bus (Microsoft)-Human Body Grades 2-6
       "             "      -Explores the Oceans Grades 2-6 
Oceans Below(Mindscape)Grades3-12
National Geographic Series Gradesk-3 The World of Animals
                      "           "  Our Earth
                       "          "  The Human Body                     
                  
                       "          "  A World of Planets
                       "          "  Animals and How They Grow 
                       "          "  Seasons
                       "          "  Exploring the Solar System   
                       "          "  Spiders
                       "          "  Farm Animals
                       "          "  Dinosaurs
                       "          "  Butterflies
                       "          "  Birds and How They Grow
                       "          "  What Air Can Do
                       "          "  Whales
                       "          "  A Tree Through the Seasons
                       "          "  Mammals

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Technology

On Sat, 29 Jun 1996, Barbara S. Andrews wrote:

> It makes no sense to spend large amounts of money on 
> hardware/software, which will have to be replaced or 
> upgraded every four years or so, if it is not being widely used.

Unless the real reason behind the funding for hardware and software is to 
provide a subsidy to industries that produce such things.  In that case, 
we would expect to see training of teachers given short shrift, which we 
do.  

I think, though, that if we could eliminate much of the nonsense that we
are expected to teach the young, ('spring forward' and 'fall back' comes
to mind), we could find the time to sit down with students and open up the
new hardware/software package, and say, "Let's learn about this together. 
How can we use this to accomplish some of our goals?".  Most important, 
perhaps, would be that we would be modeling the learning process.

John Champagne    http://www.oocities.org/athens/1942
jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu

Check the page for a plan that would give us the tools for preserving
natural resources, fresh air and fresh water, and the ecosystem, for
future generations, and would redress the problem of disparity between
rich and poor in the world today, while preserving systems of incentives
and rewards for individual initiative and effort. 

Walter Cronkite for President! ... He would do it if we ask.

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Inspiring videos involving teachers

1.      Dead Poet's Society
2.      Teachers (Nick Nolte)
3.      Dangerous Minds (Michelle Pfieffer)
4.      A tv movie in which the actor who is married to Jill Eikenberry
plays a principal in a small town school.
5.      Mr. Holland's Opus
6.      Up the Down Staircase (Sandy Dennis; 60's)
7.      To Sir with Love (Sidney Poitier; 60's); as well as the sequel
which is due out soon?
8.      The Blackboard Jungle
9.      Stand and Deliver (James Olmos)
10.     Goodbye, Mr. Chips
11.     The Corn is Green
12.     Kindergarten Cop (Arnold Schwartznegger)
13.     The Principal (Jim Belushi)
14.     Dragonseed (as I recall about the brave exploits of a teacher
trying to save her children during the Japanese occupation of
China)
15.     Renaissance Man (Danny Devito uses Shakespeare to teach recruits;
gives them self-esteem).
16.     Children of a Lesser God (John Hurt? and Marlie Matlin?)
17.     TV miniseries, To Serve Them All My Days (PBS)
18.     Molder of Dreams from Focus on the Family (James Dobson)
19.     The Water Is Wide (or "Conrack", based on the novel "The Water is
  Wide" by Pat Conroy); (Jon Voight)
20.     Stand by Me (I'm not sure about this one. The only movie I know of
by this name was about a group of kids who find a body. If anyone knows
differently, could you please enlighten me?)
21.     The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
22.     The Miracle Worker (Patti Duke?)
23.     Don't Shoot the Teacher
24.     Man Without a Face (Ted Danson)
25.     The Marva Collins Story (Cicely Tyson)
26.     Educating Rita (Michael Caine)
27.     Summer School
28.     Paper Chase
29.     Old television programs: Room 222; Mr. Novak; Twilight Zone
episode: Changing of the Guard; Bronx Zoo (with Ed Asner); Montel Williams
series; series with Meredith Baxter-Birnie; Welcome Back
Kotter (ensemble cast with John Travolta, tv show circa mid 70s);
30.     The Principal (John Belushi)
31.     Lean On Me (Morgan Freeman)
32.     Rudy
33.     Teacher's Pet
34.     The Wave (a 50 minute film about a true story of a class simulation
dealing with the Holocaust - might be hard to locate)
35.     The Children's Hour (b/w, mid 50s)
36.     "The Children's Story", by James Clavell  30 minutes
37.     Higher Learning (Laurence Fishburne)

Linda Vich                         lvich@mbnet.mb.ca

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Re: A Thought For Today/Teacher's Personal Time?

On Thu, 4 Jul 1996, Dawn Dale wrote:
> . . .  does it matter if I only do certain things in the
> privacy of my own home?  Is it okay to tell students not to do drugs, and
> then smoke marijuana at home?

We could go on to ask, "Is it okay to tell students not to do drugs, and 
then take coffee, sugar or NutraSweet at home?".

Some might take issue with that question, claiming that some or all of 
those things are not drugs.  But consider sugar:  A white, crystalline 
substance, refined from plants, which is habit-forming, which affects 
mood and behavior, and which may induce withdrawal symptoms when 
discontinued.

Consider NutraSweet.  It is government approved poison.  Just do a web 
search on 'aspartame' 

                      at:   http://www.metacrawler.com

                      or:   http://www.altavista.digital.com
                      
                      or:   http://www.lycos.com

Or, e-mail me for an eight-page synopsis of health problems associated with this chemical

. I have known people personally who have had significant health problems go away when they discontinued NutraSweet. Some would take issue with the practice of calling 'cannabis', (marijuana), a drug, suggesting instead that it should be called an herb. Use of cannabis does not cause the development of a physical dependence or addiction, and there is no lethal 'dose', both of which are characteristics of all drugs, I believe. The use of the term, 'marijuana' became popularized about 60 to 70 years ago, as a substitute for the traditional term, 'cannabis', used for thousands of years to reference the plant in its medicinal effects, and 'hemp', applied to the same plant in reference to its industrial applications, (e.g.: fibers and oils). Apparently, Hearst, the newspaper magnate, did not want doctors or captains of industry to know what he was talking about when he campaigned against 'marijuana', lest they object. Hearst owned large tracts of trees, useful for making paper. Apparently, his financial interests would have been harmed had the hemp industry been allowed to develop into an alternative source for newsprint, (as appeared likely with the invention of mechanized fiber extraction techniques). Perhaps rather than telling students what they should do, we should tell them that whatever actions they choose to take, they should consider the consequences, local and global, short-term and long-term, of their actions. We can tell them what we do, and why we make the choices we do; or, in matters of a personal or private nature, we can tell them that we prefer to not discuss our private decisions publicly, (if that is the case). John Champagne jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu http://www.oocities.org/Athens/1942 Walter Cronkite for President! He would do it if we ask.

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu Subject: John's theme Friends, A brief moment of cybertime to endorse John Champagne's post on respecting choices humans make in private but reminding all that it is the consequence of action which we must consider above all, whether it is something we do, say, ingest, or proscribe. Thanks John for making a clear stand on this difficult issue. ::::::::::::::::::::::::: : Steve Gunter : : sgunter@comp.uark.edu: : Bentonville, AR 72712: ::::::::::::::::::::::::: Keep On Thinking Free! To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu Subject: Re: John's theme Steve wrote, > A brief moment of cybertime to endorse John Champagne's post... May I also add my thanks to John for putting my feelings into print. I recently spent some time discussing this and other issues with a Year 10 student . Her major concern was that each person should be able to do as they please. However, as I talked with her, I was (I hope) able to move her towards understanding that our actions will always have consequences not only on ourselves but also on others. We should never forget that we must question to understand why certain actions are seen as not socially acceptable, but in understanding we must learn that often it is because of the consequences on society if those restrictions are removed. Once again, thank you John and Steve. Max "It's Amazing what you Learn when you Teach !"

From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: RE: reform article in Kappan, re: Choosing a President

On Fri, 5 Jul 1996 William S. King, WMSKing@aol.com wrote:

> Systems theory types, e.g., Stafford Beer and Russ Ackoff, have proposed
> that there are different kinds of improvement.  In one case, one assumes,
> usually unknowingly, that the system ... is structurally
> fixed and that what is required is optimization of its parameters. This is 
> sometimes called "single-loop" learning.  In another case, one asks whether 
> the existing system itself needs to be changed in order to reach a higher 
> level of potential performance. This is sometimes called double-loop, or 
> higher, learning.

Walter Cronkite, speaking at the close of the '60's, said that we face a
choice between evolution and revolution.  And he said that the genius of
the American system is that it allows for either evolution OR revolution
WITHIN the framework of the system.  Revolution in the sense that he used
the word does not mean 'violent change', (which, he said, actually
distorts and corrupts the aims of the revolution), but it does mean
wholesale change; change in the hearts and minds of the people.  ('The 
Challenges of Change'; Public Affairs Press)

I got interested in the idea of bringing Walter Cronkite to the presidency
when, to use Beer's and Ackoff's words, the problems with education that
were much discussed in the news at that time, (late '83) appeared very
much systemic or double-loop, while the proposed solutions appeared to be
single-loop reforms--so much tinkering at the edges.  I knew that only
someone who had the trust and confidance of the people could bring about
the kinds of sweeping changes that were obviously necessary--in the
educational system, the political system, the economic system.  (A
political science professor, Richard Young, had drawn my attention to
Cronkite.  He had mentioned, outside of class, (The American Presidency,
fall, '83), that he thought Cronkite should run against Reagan, as he was
the only one who could win against Reagan.  But Dr. Young lost interest in
Cronkite by late fall, saying that it was too late for him to get into the
race for '84, he would be too old in '88, and that Cronkite wanted to be
drafted, but the American people don't draft their president.  I figured,
if we would get better results if we DID draft our president, then maybe
we ought to change the way we go about it.  Another example of 'double
loop' thinking.)

Since I started watching Cronkite, I have learned much about the 
qualities of good leadership, including the fact that the best leadership 
helps the people to understand that we have the capacity within and among 
ourselves to confront our challenges and solve our problems.  

The ball is in our court.  We could get leadership who most all of us
could agree on, who we would WANT to vote for, if we care enough to ask. 

John Champagne   jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu

http://www.oocities.org/Athens/1942

Walter Cronkite for President!
Franklin Thomas for President!

From: jchampag (John C. Champagne)
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 93 17:36:52 CDT
Subject: Water
To: hanne-Bentzen@Skole-kom.uni-c.dk

Dear Ms Hanne Bentzen and class,

I read a note on Kidsphere that you wanted information about water.  I under-
stand that you have been learning about where your water comes from and
also about how much water you use on a daily basis.  I thought it would be
fun to send you a note to let you know a bit about the situation here in
San Antonio.  (I have never until now sent a message thru E-mail.  This is
my first!)

We get our water from the ground here in San Antonio, same as you.  Ours
comes from a limestone aquifer that is about 50 meters below the surface.

We are very fortunate.  Ground water is almost always cleaner than surface
water (from rivers or lakes).  L  The limestone is a giant filter that remoces
removes suspended particles.

We are fortunate also because our Aquifer, called the Edwards Aquifer, is
replenished by rain.  Some aquifers contain water that seeped into the earth
over a very long time, maybe millions of years.  When people pump water out
of those aquifers for agriculture or for use in cities, the water in the ground
may be used up over time.  Not enough water is seeping back into the ground
from the surface to keep the aquifer filled.  But the Edwards is a recharging
aquifer.  In some places north and west of San Antonio, the limestone that 
holds our water is exposed to the surface.  Here the ground is so porous
that rain water and little creeks and rivers can flow right into the ground.
This is how the Edwards is recharged.  Some people call it an underground
river.

Sincerely, John Champagne    jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: Kindergarten Web Pages/ Looking for Kinder Key Pals
Web pages are as follows. 

http://leeca8.leeca.ohio.gov/nocs/birch/birch.htm

http://leeca8.leeca.ohio.gov/nocs/birch/physed.htm

http://leeca8.leeca.ohio.gov/nocs/birch/extras.htm

Please email us at one of the following addresses.

Tom Urich
Birch Kindergarten Physical Education
turich@leeca8.leeca.ohio.gov
bobcat91@earthlink.net
bobcat1991@aol.com

Janet Loosli
Birch Kindergarten Media Specialist
jloosl@leeca8.leeca.ohio.gov
Tom Urich

bobcat91@earthlink.net
bobcat1991@aol.com
turich@leeca8.leeca.ohio.gov

From jchampag@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu Mon Feb  5 06:47:31 1996
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 1996 06:47:29 -0600 (CST)
To: ednet@lists.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Technology usage by younger age stuudents

Anyone who wants to introduce children to keyboards needs to know that 
the standard keyboard layout, 'QWERTY', was designed to be difficult and 
slow to use, so that typists would not go too fast and jam the machines 
(a hundred or more years ago, when the pattern was laid out).  

Now, machines are not subject to jamming by fast typists.  Shortly after 
the electric typewriter was invented, Dvorak re-mapped the keyboard, 
placinng the most often-used letters on the home keys.  A-O-E-U  H-T-N-S

It makes sense to change outmoded patterns of behavior.  A learned 
keyboard map is a pattern of behavior that need not be made more slow and 
difficult to accommodate obsolete machines.  I highly recommend the 
dvorak keyboard map for anyone learning or teaching typing.  
Touch-typing, with the fingers on the home keys, comes naturally, when 
the home keys are the letters that we are using most anyway.  

DOS-based systems can use the free Microsoft program, MSDVORAK.EXE, to 
re-map their keyboards.  (With a pointer in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, the 
computer boots with the dvoark keyboard map automatically, but you can 
always switch back to QWERTY, in a pinch, with 'Alt-Ctrl-F1'.  
('Alt-Ctrl-F2' switches back to dvorak.))  

Windows has the dvorak keyboard map included.  (Go to 'Control Panel', 
then 'International' to change keyboard maps.  (There should be a way to 
make this the default, but I do not know it.))

Most keyboards have button-caps that can be removed with tweezers and 
rearranged.


John Champagne


  If you could ask ANYONE to be president, who would you choose?

Hint:  I stole this question from Walter Cronkite.

Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 17:54:00 -0600 (CST)From:"
To: ednet@lists.umass.edu

On Sun, 4 Feb 1996, John D. Crossman wrote:

> ...... doing an inservice for Social Science and Foreign Language teachers
> .......... any [...] suggestions for what these .....
> students should be doing with technological tools and Internet access...?

Find ways for them to interact with their environment, their society.  I
particularly like the strategy of encouraging them to ask questions that
not only create and gather certain types of information, but also create a
positive change amongst those surveyed (and the surveyors?).  Perhaps an
example of this would be the question, 'If you could ask ANYONE to be
president, who would you choose?'.  Many people who hear this question
have little or no idea how they would answer such a question.  But those
who profess that they could not answer, at least not right away, actually
seem to be those who *compliment* the question the most.  I digress.  The
point is that there is an opportunity in each moment of a person's public
discourse to turn the attention, the focus toward something more
important, more central, more illuminating, (pick your metaphor), or
toward the opposite.  Most surveys conducted in public places (it seems to
me) are conducted to promote the financial interests of marketers.  I am
not opposed to marketers conducting surveys, but do think that we could do
better as a society if we could find a different balance amongst the
various kinds of questions that we want to put to citizens, to ourselves,
to society. 

Perhaps one reason why it is so gratifying to write a page that someone 
might say, "Interesting...good idea", or put out a question that is 
received gladly and thoughtfully, is that I feel that I have helped to 
produce a permanent change (for the better, I hope) in someone's sense of 
possibilities.

So, in putting questions to society, we have an opportunity to affect the 
society, but much depends on the nature of the question.  

One artifact of traditional, normal polling techniques is that people
often are expected to give an immediate response to a question.  How can
polling strategies change when it becomes possible to inform a population
of a question in a separate action from the actual gathering of opinions
from a sample of that population.  But, on reflection, this is what
happens in an election.  The question, in the national presidential
election, is 'Which of the two 'major' party nominees do I like the most,
or dislike the least, or do I want to vote 'third' party, or not vote at
all..?' No where in the presidential selection process are we asked to
consider the question, 'Who would we choose, if we could ask anyone?'. 
Only if you were listening to Walter Cronkite would you hear a question
anything like this.  He's the one I stole it, adapted it from. 

How can we explore the effect of presenting some results of earlier
polling at the same time that we ask a question; for example, when we ask
for an opinion on who might make a good president, show the list of 101
names that was compiled when Cronkite put out his question:  'Aside from
those who appear to be running, who do you think might make a good
president?' Sometimes it is important to know what the opinions of your
fellow citizens are, particularly in the selection of leadership.  We want
people who we trust and respect and generally agree with, but we also
*need* people who *other people* also trust and respect, and generally
agree with. 

We could ask whether people would support a change in the economic
paradigm that involved payments for use of natural resources, including
use of air and water as a medium for taking pollution, use of forests,
fisheries, pasture, even use of electromagnetic spectrum space; whatever
natural resource use by human beings that needs to be managed within
certain limits can be managed by either auctioning limited numbers of
permits, or by adjusting the permit price, or fee per use, then this money
collected could be dispersed to all the people of the world.  With the
people controlling the price of various permits OR the numbers allowed,
there would be ownership and management of the earth, of our natural
resources, by the people.  This attains Marx's ownership of the means of
production by the people, if natural resources are seen as the ultimate
means of production; while it preserves the free market managed by
decentralized forces.  Again I digress... 

The point is, as we undertake to observe and measure our society, comment
and talk about it, we need to recognize that we are not merely passive
observers but agents of change.  A question is a linguistic device to turn
the attention to something.  When we create questions, we are making a
statement about what we believe is important. 

John Champagne

 http://www.geopages.com/athens/1942

 jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu

Date: Wed, 7 Feb 1996 08:29:57 -0600 (CST)
From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu
To: ednet@lists.umass.edu
Subject: Dvorak Keyboard

On Mon, 5 Feb 1996 JerryTaylr@aol.com wrote:

> ..... one teensy little
> problem: People are VERY resistant to change, even when it's obvious that the
> "new" way is better!  
> 
> It's a classic example of, "It's a great idea.  Now, who will start it?" 

Dvorak started the change, when he redesigned the keyboard map 
ergonomically.  The change accelerates when people learn that the tools 
are available to allow them to make the change.  Any person who wishes 
can use the tools I referred to to re-map their keyboards, as can their 
students in the future.  As soon as there is even a small percentage of 
people who know or wish to know Dvoark, there will be some willing to pay 
a premium for a keyboard with that map as a standard.  Then, as some 
keyboard manufacturers begin to notice the growing interest in Dvorak, 
they may begin to offer this 'premium' feature on all of their boards.  

In the computer age, we can make changes, even as individuals, to do the 
things that we want to do, simply by designing the software tools that we 
need.  If our tools would be helpful to others, and we inform others 
about their existence and make them available, others will adopt the new 
ways.  We need not wait for institutions to start a change.  That power 
is now in our hands.  (Of course, it is nice to have the institutions 
change with us.  I am asking our sys-admin to make dvorak available, and 
to make it the default on at least some machines.)

In regards to Jerry's problem with students rearranging the keys in 
nonsensical ways after they learned that they could be removed and 
rearranged, the fact that it is possible to arrange the keys in any 
old way is hardly an argument against learning Dvorak.  If anything, it 
may be an argument for a rule banning nonsensical keyboard maps in the 
classroom, which would have to include QWERTY, which is nonsensical, 
except for those who have old, mechanical machines subject to jamming by 
fast typing, or for those who have learned it and prefer not to learn a 
new pattern. 

John Champagne

"Besides those who appear to be running, who do you think might make a 
good president?"--Walter Cronkite

Date: Wed, 7 Feb 1996 08:54:58 -0600 (CST)
From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu

To: ednet@lists.umass.edu

Not a canned software source, but an idea:  Encourage young students to 
draw pictures (maps) of their home and neighborhood, and identify the 
location using longitude and latitude (from USGS topographical maps).  

The best artists in the various age levels could be asked to draw up maps
of their city and region.  If these maps were created in a standard format
all across the continent and world, and were made available on public
servers, and if we had tools to integrate the various documents, we would
see the emmergence of an electronic globe created by school children,
which can be examined at a variety of scales, and even in a variety of
styles.  We could view this electronic globe through filters that only
showed the drawings of eight-year-olds, or high-school students, or
whatever. 

John Champagne

If you could ask *anyone* to be president, who would you choose?

Date: Wed, 7 Feb 1996 09:08:12 -0600 (CST)
From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu
Subject: Re: Technology usage by younger age stuudents


On Mon, 5 Feb 1996, GEORGE E FORMAN wrote:

> Qwerty Keyboards,
> the Qwerty keyboard being an unnecessary obsolescence, that he did not
> literally mean we should change the keyboard.  He meant (I guess) that
> we should search for cases when unnecessary obsolescence does make
> a meaningful difference in our productivity or our creativity.
> Regards, George Forman


On Wed, 7 Feb 1996, GEORGE E FORMAN wrote:

> John,
>    You wrote, "So, you feel that Papert used a case that he feels makes no difference 
> to make the point that we should look for cases that DO make a 
> difference? hmmm.... I wonder.  Anyway, to ask that each machine be set up to 
> offer an option either for QWERTY or Dvorak seems a harmless enough 
> request."

> Yes, exactly.  Seymour was being rhetorical.  I will bet he was more 
> surpised than anywone that there was a scramble to rewire the keyboards.
> Perhaps the second level message is "lets look at what the learner
> needs rather than what the technolgy can do."  This proposition could
> apply even when it is harmless and inexpensive to have the technology
> do something different.  Would we, to take another famous Papert example, 
> have all children learn to juggle because Seymour demonstrated how a
> procedural set of instructions make it easy to learn.  He chose this
> example because it a great demonstration in large group lectures, not
> because the content is important.  Ispo facto, Qwerty vs Dvorak.  
> George Forman
 
the question here is not whether we will teach them to juggle, or type, 
but which typing pattern will we introduce them to, one that is 
relatively easy to learn and use, or one that is more difficult.  

john
	[If we look at what the learner needs, would it not be, in this case, 
	a tool which most easily allows him or her to put a string of text into 
	the computer?] 
		
Date: Sun, 11 Feb 1996 15:58:07 -0600 (CST)
From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu
To: ednet@lists.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Qwerty

On Sun, 11 Feb 1996, GEORGE E FORMAN wrote:

> >From George
> I know of no evidence that Qwerty is more difficult to 
> use.                                                         
 
Home keys on 'QWERTY':    ASDF JKL;

Home keys on 'Dvorak':    AOEU HTNS


QWERTY was developed after an earlier keyboard pattern, essentially an 
alphabetical order keyboard, proved too easy, too fast.  The request of 
the insurance company executive to the maker of the typewriters:  "Can 
you make a pattern that is more difficult, slower, so that my typists 
will not go so fast that they jam the machines?". 

It might be interesting to conduct an experiment to judge young children's
subconscious (or conscious) awareness of the frequency of letter use in
English by placing them in a room with a dozen or so computers, half with
QWERTY and half with Dvorak keyboards, and see whether they show any
preference for one pattern over the other.  Of course, the children could
not have had much (any?) experience with keyboards before the test, or the
results would be invalid as a measure of preference due to a perceived
harmony between letter-frequency and design, as preference due to
familiarity would interfere. 

With what we know about children teaching one another and younger children
absorbing much from older children around them, from the social context,
the question comes to mind, "How does this experiment change when we
introduce some more accomplished typists into the group, both Dvorak and
QWERTY?".

The world's record holder for fast typing is, I believe, a Dvorak user.  

In any case, I am not much interested, per se, in debating the relative 
merits/demerits of various keyboard designs; but I am interested in 
promoting the philosophy that, in times that demand great change in our 
behavior, toward one another and toward the environment that sustains us, 
we ought to be ready, willing, even eager to change outmoded patterns of 
behavior.  Our survival depends a great deal on our ability to recognize 
when our behavior patterns are inappropriate, and our willingness to see 
a better way, and adopt it.  

The switch to the dvorak keyboard pattern is, for me, a metaphor for a
more general principle.  I do not wish to wait for THE perfect embodiment
of that principle before I begin to practice it in my life.  I want to 
live by it every day, in my choice of keyboard pattern, in my choice of 
diet, in the way I approach choosing a president....

John Champagne

"Besides those who appear to be running, who do you think might make a 
good president?"--Walter Cronkite

Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 05:59:43 -0600 (CST)
From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu
To: ednet@lists.umass.edu
Subject: Re: science sites, internet and Clifford Stohl

Remember what Clifford Stoll said about internet, (he wrote "High Tech 
Snake Oil"):  You can get neat pictures from the internet of craters, or 
you can point a telescope at the moon, and see real craters.

Stoll believes that we gain more and deeper understanding through our 
interactions with one another and through our direct experience of our 
environment than we ever can or will learn through a CRT.  I agree.
His point is not to completely reject the technology, I think, but to 
keep it in perspective, and always keep the personal interaction and 
direct experience as our primary means for creating meaning.  

John

Walter Cronkite for President!   (He'll do it if we ask him.)


Date: Fri, 16 Feb 1996 06:26:00 -0600 (CST)
From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu
To: ednet@lists.umass.edu
Subject: Re: Qwerty, dvorak, sunrise, wind, diet choice, and choosing, presidents.

On Thu, 15 Feb 1996, GEORGE E FORMAN wrote:

> Dear Members,
> ... we all agree that the
> case of Qwerty is only a metaphor or weak example of how we should
> seek out and eliminate habits that no longer serve our needs.

I do not agree that the QWERTY/dvorak debate is *only* a metaphor.  In
fact, I think it is indeed a good example of how we ought to more
thoughtfully choose our patterns of behavior; but I do think, too, that
discussion of alternatives in keyboard patterns might distract us from
more important, more pressing concerns, such as, how ought we make diet
choices, so as to best promote our health, reduce suffering, and reduce
depletion of scarce resources; or, how might we go about choosing a
president, if we were to end our reliance on advertising campaigns and
'major' party nominating conventions, and 'major' party selection of
Presidential Electors.  We may loose sight, in our esoteric debates, of the
need to nurture an ability in learners to perceive the subtle changes
through the year in the place and time of the sunrise and sunset; or, of
how we might best introduce learners to the possibility of directly
experiencing the phenomenon of sun making wind on an almost calm, partly
cloudy spring morning.... 

Anyway, I do hope that someone will invent a keyboard with 'h', 't', 'n',
and 's' at the four corners of the desk, with the vowels kept in the
drawer, so that GEORGE can enjoy the benefits, real or imagined, of an
even slower keyboard. 

John

"Aside from those who appear to be running, who do you think might make a 
good president?"--Walter Cronkite 

Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 19:42:32 -0600 (CST)
From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu
To: ednet@lists.umass.edu
Subject: Freedom, diversity, plants, prison.  was: Is Ignorance Incurable?

On Mon, 19 Feb 1996, Steve Gunter wrote:

>         .... how can a nation of 
> diversity remain a nation of democracy? 
> 
> ... [with] schools of liberty we shall save the world for freedom. 
>   .... [But] systems of authority [would] destroy the world ...

Brings to mind the Rasta freedom fighter slogan:  
Harsher drug laws make harsher drugs. 

There are a variety of plants that some people choose to use as relaxants,
euphoriants, stimulants, narcotics, sacraments; and there are people who
believe that those who choose to use these plants in such ways ought to be
put in prison.  

What is this thing we call freedom, that we speak so highly of, that we
will be willing to deny it to those among us who would choose to use some
plants in ways that some other of us might disagree with.... we deny it 
to those who choose to exercise it?

John

Ask anyone to be president...  who would you choose?

Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996 00:38:57 -0600 (CST)
From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu
To: ednet@lists.umass.edu
Subject: Coke vs. Pepsi was Re: Mac vs. PC

Coke is pretty darn tart, but Pepsi is so sweet.

Actually, I think they would both leach minerals from my bones.  The day
after I helped a friend move, a friend who kept offering me sodas to
drink, I was rejected by the blood bank on the iron test, (and missed
getting my free T-shirt) for having too HIGH an iron content in my blood. 
I think that the increased acid levels in by blood leached the iron from
my bones, and other minerals, too, I suppose.  Thus, my blood was more
dense and I failed the iron content test. 

Competition is such a valuable thing to keep markets and production
processes efficient, (efficiency, though certainly not the only goal or
value to strive for, is a good thing because greater efficiency means
greater wealth, greater prosperity for a given level of effort and
resource use; or, conversely, greater efficiency means, at a particular
level of comfort, lower costs in human and ecological terms. 

So, given the fact that competition benefits all of us, it is surprising
to see so many people expressing the 'Prepare to abandon ship' sentiment. 
I do not think, though, that we ought to patronize a business in order to
artificially inflate the number of players.  I just hope to believe that,
in the 'change or die' choice, Apple can change.  (I am probably biased by
the fact that, in the early eighties, when I wanted to buy a Dvorak
keyboard, (which has AOEU HTNS on the home keys), Apple was the only
seller offering that simplified keyboard as an option, a toggle switch.  I
spent about $1200 for that keyboard--helped to capitalize the computer
industry.  (QWERTY was intentionally designed to be slow, more difficult
to use, to reduce the problem of machines jamming under the hands of fast
typists.)
On Wed, 21 Feb 1996, B. Frazier wrote:

> Diane, 
> 
> There are increasingly no hard and fast rules for determining PC vs MAC 
> usage in the schools.  Most decisions are application driven as you 
> pointed out in your note (eg. AutoCad, Graphic Design, etc.). My 
> district has taken the approach of developing a technology master plan 
> (non-platform specific) that drives the integration of technology with 
> our...

From: "Johns, Sue" <johnss@wipp.carlsbad.nm.us
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: DOE Publishes Waste Minimization and  Pollution Prevention Awareness Plan for WIPP

The Waste Minimization and Pollution Prevention Awareness Program Plan for
the U.S. Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is an
organized, comprehensive effort to systematically reduce the quantity and
toxicity of wastes generated at the WIPP site.

This plan focuses on eliminating or minimizing waste generation through
source reduction, material substitution, and environmentally sound
recycling.  These efforts offer increased protection of public health and
the environment, and they will provide the following additional benefits:

        Reduction of nonradioactive waste management and compliance costs
        Reduction of resource usage
        Reduction or elimination of inventories and releases of hazardous
        chemicals reportable under the Emergency Planning and Community
        Right-to-Know Act.

Although some of the material is WIPP specific, much of the information in
the plan could be used in designing or redesigning a plan for your facility
or organization.  Topics include:

        Situation Analysis
        Current Situation
        Program Directives
        Relevant Site Directives or Guidance
        Barrier Analysis
        Site-Wide Program Elements
        Employee Involvement
        Tracking and Reporting
        Pollution Prevention Opportunity Assessments

The WIPP is designed to safely and permanently dispose of transuranic waste
in an ancient, stable salt formation 2,150 feet underground.  The facility
currently is in an environmental compliance permitting phase with the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency and the New Mexico Environment Department.

To obtain a copy of the Waste Minimization and Pollution Prevention
Awareness Program Plan, E-mail Sue Johns your mailing address at
Johnss@wipp.carlsbad.nm.us for a free copy.  If you need further assistance,
call Frank Burchardt at 1-800-336-9477. 

From: "Johns, Sue" <johnss@wipp.carlsbad.nm.us
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu
Subject: New Report Provides Training and Guidelines for Radiological Transportation Emergencies

A copy of the 173-page Command and Control Radiological Transportation
Emergencies Course from the U.S. Department of Energy's Waste Isolation
Pilot Plant (WIPP) is available to you at no cost.  This training book will
give you a through understanding of the responsibilities of the First
Responder and Incident Commander at the scene of a transportation incident. 
The training publication includes a summary of actions that would be
required to protect you, the public, and the environment.

Although this is a WIPP-specific course book, the instruction in this manual
could parallel other hazardous material training you may have received
previously.  It covers topics such as:

        Introduction to Radiation
        Waste Acceptance
        Transportation Regulations
        Package Design
        Emergency Response
        First Response Actions
        Contamination Control
        Incident Command System
        Radiological Assistance Team Operations
        TRUPACT-II Recovery
The WIPP is designed to permanently dispose of transuranic radioactive waste
left from the research and production of nuclear weapons.  Located in
southeastern New Mexico, 26 miles east of Carlsbad, project facilities
include disposal rooms excavated in an ancient, stable salt formation, 2,150
feet underground.  Transuranic waste consists of clothing, tools, rags, and
other items contaminated with trace amounts of radioactive elements, mostly
plutonium.

For a free copy of the Command and Control Radiological Transportation
Emergencies Course, E-mail Sue Johns your mailing address at
Johnss@wipp.carlsbad.nm.us, or call Frank Burchardt at 1-800-336-9477.
 

To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the 
Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu Subject: Do you have a syllaweb?


Thanks, 
Ted

I maintain a list of on line syllabi, called syllawebs. 
If you have a syllaweb on the WWW and your students use it,
please check my site to see if yours is there.  If it is please
advise to me as to corrections.
I would like to add those that are not there.
I will be going through it and deleting defunct links.



To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net"
<ednet@noc1.oit.umass.edu

Subject: Distance Education Techniques 



The first WWW page geared toward learning how to distribute
software content modules and retrieve evaluation data from students by
ways other than e-mail Check it out and let me know if your web site would
be good for inclusion on this page...Thanks, Cathy Thomas 

To: "'John C. Champagne'" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu

Subject: RE: High School Newspaper Exchange 

Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 13:12:36 -0600 



Thank you for your letter and article. I will forward this to my editor
for his perusal. 

He will contact you if he decides to print it. 



M. Tepper ---------- 




From: John C. Champagne[SMTP:jchampag@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu]


Sent: Saturday, September 14, 1996 4:30 AM To: Marsha Tepper Subject: Re:
High School Newspaper Exchange On Thu, 12 Sep 1996, Marsha Tepper wrote:
> My editor would like to create an "article exchange" program.
. . Would you take articles from former high school students? I am currently
a student at the University of Texas at San Antonio. And a reading tutor,
for class and extra money. I am studying for that diploma and certificate
that I will need to be a teacher. Choosing a President Many people are
quite dissatisfied with the results of our political system. The candidates
for public office do not seem to represent the very best that this country
has to offer. We often vote with the feeling that we are choosing among
unappealing alternatives: 'the lesser of evils'. For voters to persist
in this state of mind is not a healthy state of affairs for a democratic
society. An opportunity to choose among unappealing alternatives is a corruption
of the idea of 'choice', and will not long remain a cherished freedom.
So, if you could ask anyone to be your next president, (and in a free country,
we should all be free to ask who we WANT, and have our vote counted,) who
would you choose? Think about it. Talk about it. Pass on the question.
We could do better. Perhaps part of our problem is the highly partisan
nature of the selection process. We may want to look for someone who we
trust, respect and admire, AND who many other people also trust, respect
and admire. John Champagne jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu www.oocities.org/athens/1942
From: "Johns, Sue" <johnss@wipp.carlsbad.nm.usTo: "Local
forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.eduSubject:
New Report Provides Training & Guidelines for Audiovisual Record Keeping
New Report Provides Training and Guidelines for Audiovisual Record Keeping
A copy of the 45-page Audiovisual Record Keeping Handbook from the U.S.
Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is available
to you at no cost. This training book was designed as an Audiovisual Records
Keeping Handbook to facilitate compliance with federal laws and regulations.
The handbook sets forth a step-by step approach to managing records. Although
this is a WIPP-specific course book, the instructional material is intended
to be used by audiovisual managers, employees, and record coordinators.
This Audiovisual Records-Handbook explains how to: Inventory records Caption
and label records Complete a records inventory and disposition schedule
Store and preserve records For a free copy of the Audiovisual Record Keeping
Handbook and more information, E-mail Sue Johns your mailing address at
Johnss@wipp.carlsbad.nm.us, or call Frank Burchardt at 1-800-336-9477.
From: "John C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.eduTo: "Local
forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.eduSubject:
Problem solving, was re: Climb ever mountain On Tue, 10 Sep 1996, Barry
Kort wrote: > . . My observation is that teenagers are > quite good
at recognizing and articulating problems, but that it > takes a long
time for adults (read 'those in power') to pay any > attention to what
the children are pointing out. May I humbly suggest "The Challenges
of Change", with chapter one, 'The Problems We Face', by Walter Cronkite.
In another chapter, 'Change and Revolution', Cronkite says that the beauty
of the American system is that it allows for evolution or revolution within
the framework of the system. When I started reading Cronkite closely almost
13 years ago, I was also hearing many news reports about the poor state
of this nation's education system. I could see that Cronkite understands
change, and it appeared to me, in part because of something a professor
said, that we would get Cronkite as President only if we changed the way
we go about choosing presidents. And it appeared also that the public school
system was not something that I wanted to be involved in, the way it was
constituted. I knew that it would have to change quite a bit if it was
to become a place where I would want to be. So, I started this crusade
to draft Cronkite to the Presidency. I thought that as soon as the word
got out that we might get better presidents if we actually *look* for who
we want to vote for, and that Cronkite would do it if we ask, the idea
would catch on like wildfire. Well, not much has happened in the way of
popular clamor for Cronkite as President, but the mood of the people suggests
that something big is imminent. There is widespread dissatisfaction with
the current crop of self-promoted and corporate sponsored presidential
candidates. The Electors may just decide that an election with less than
50% turnout, and with no candidate receiving as much as 50% of the votes
cast, and with most of those votes being cast not so much in *favor* of
the candidate with the plurality, as against the 'other guy', might just
pursuade the Electors that they are not bound by tradition to heed the
results of that election and vote for the candidate who received a plurality
in their state. They might just decide to look for someone with experience,
intelligence, courage, good ideas... who would do it if asked. John Champagne
http://www.oocities.org/athens/1942 Walter Cronkite for President! Franklin
Thomas for President! Pass it on.... They would do it if we ask. To: "Local
forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.eduSubject:
Antarctic Virtual Field Trip Ready to Launch! PROJECT NOTICE -- PLEASE
SHARE SCIENCE ON THE INTERNET K-12 INTERNET "FIELD TRIP" TO ANTARCTICA
SET TO BEGIN Contact <tbt@onlineclass.comBlue Ice: Focus On Antarctica/Food
Webs, an exciting, seven-week virtual field trip to Antarctica is gearing
up to begin October 28. In this online "class," students grades
4 - 12 from around the world will work together between October 28 and
December 13, 1996, to learn just how an ecosystem as rich and vast as the
Antarctic food web can survive in the icy waters that surround such a cold
and barren continent. As we investigate the food web, we also learn about
the geography, weather, history, geology and wildlife of Antarctica, and
begin to consider our role as human beings in the stewardship of all of
our earth. Much of Blue Ice: Focus On Antarctica takes place by e-mail,
as students work on their classroom projects and share the results with
their Blue Ice e-mail friends. By e-mail, too, the classes converse with
Antarctic experts from around the world, and answer puzzles, provocative
questions and contests. During the course of the program, classrooms can
participate in several unit-long activities: -- The Food Web Research Project
(a thorough exploration by each student of a particular animal or plant
in the Antarctic food web) -- The Penguin Foraging Project (student analysis
of actual data fed to us by a scientist in Antarctica) -- The Food Web
Diorama Project (building the food web in three diminsions right in your
classroom). Related activities are provided in a teacher resource guide,
and in weekly e-mail assignment packages. The interactive program runs
live between October 28 and December 13, with a second unit on Global Warming
beginning in January. The Fall Food Webs Unit schedule includes: * Week
One, October 28 - November 1, 1996 -- "Getting Ready" Week's
Objective: To learn the basic geographic characteristics of Antarctica
in order to prepare for our food web and animal/plant studies. * Week Two
-- "Marine Animals and Seabirds" Week's Objective: To become
familiar with the animals and birds that live in Antarctica. To introduce
the concept of "habitat" and to identify the habitats of Antarctic
Wildlife. Our Special E-mail guest: William Stout, painter of Antarctic
animals. * Week Three -- "Southern Ocean Habitat" Week's Objective:
To learn about ocean currents, Antarctic ocean patterns, sea ice, and to
familiarize students with the characteristics of the Southern Ocean as
groundwork for its influence on the food web. To introduce the plant life
that feeds the animal life in the food web and to define photosynthesis.
Our Special E-mail guest: Amy Levanter, specialist with sea ice diatoms.
* Week Four -- "Adapting to the Cold" Week's Objective: To increase
knowledge of Antarctica's harsh environment and habitats. To recognize
techniques of adaptation. Our Special E-mail guest: Anne Parks Hawthorne,
photographer. * Week Five -- "The Food Chains" Week's Objective:
To introduce the concept of prey/predator and producer/consumer relationships.
To research and identify how one animal's food chain fits into a larger
food web. To consider the implications of natural food web imbalances.
Our Special E-mail guest: Norman Vaughan, noted explorer and member of
Admiral Byrd's original expedition to Antarctica. * Week Six -- "Humans
In the Mix" Week's Objective: To understand how humans share the Antarctic
habitat with the rest of the food web. To study the history of exploration.
To introduce the concept of earth stewardship. Our Special E-mail guest:
Dr. Bill Fraser, an Antarctic ecologist, who has provided Blue Ice with
data for our Penguin Foraging Project. * Week Seven -- "The Antarctic
Food Web" Week's Objective: To explore the impact of tourism in Antarctica
and to continue the discussion of stewardship. To introduce the Antarctic
Treaty as a viable means of protecting Antarctica and as a model for other
parts of the world. Our Special E-mail guest:Dr. Pamela Davis, from the
Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, England, a specialist on tourism
in Antarctica. Blue Ice: Focus On Antarctica charges a $90 per unit fee
for seven weeks of moderated, interactive programming, guest honoraria,
and print material. "...the greatest bargain on the Internet!!"
says Sue Hess, library media specialist from Brooklyn, New York, and Blue
Ice enthusiast. To see how the Blue Ice: Focus On Antarctica program works,
visit the OnlineClass web page http://www.usinternet.com/onlineclass or
e-mail <tbt@onlineclass.comfor a registration form. ** Cathy de Moll
Co-producer of OnlineClass(TM) cdemoll@onlineclass.com or tbt@onlineclass.com
Visit OnlineClass at http://www.usinternet.com/onlineclass OnlineClass
Production office: TBT International 1288 East Como Blvd. St. Paul, MN
55117 612-489-6955 From: Sue Blomendahl To: "Local forum on educational
possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.eduSubject: Re:
Educational videos Learning Seed 330 Telser Road Lake Zurich, IL 60047
1-800-634-4941 Hope this is what you are looking for Sue Blomendahl Media
Specialist Logan View Jr. Sr. High School "Change is not made without
inconvenience, even from worse to better" Richard Hooker, 1554-1600
To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.eduSubject:
Math Forum Newsletter: vol 1, no 2 The Math Forum Internet News is a weekly
electronic newsletter designed to help keep you informed about math on
the Internet. TO SUBSCRIBE: Send a message to majordomo@forum.swarthmore.edu
and write in the body subscribe newsletter __________________________________________________________
14 October 1996 Vol.1, No.2 ThinkQuest -=- Block Scheduling/Tracking -=-
Finding Sites THE MATH FORUM INTERNET NEWS http://forum.swarthmore.edu
FEATURED INTERNET RESOURCE: THINKQUEST http://tqd.advanced.org/ByTitle.html
Wondering what students are doing on the Web? This month the Forum highlights
ThinkQuest, a contest designed to encourage teams of students to create
educational tools on the Internet. From Thinkquest's hundreds of contest
entries, we've picked out the math projects and listed them - with live
links - at our OCTOBER HOT SPOT: http://forum.swarthmore.edu/~steve/steve/current.html
-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES
IN MATH EDUCATION Is your school moving to block scheduling? Do you wonder
whether tracking helps or hinders math education? Initiatives aimed at
reforming math education have raised concerns in many quarters. In answer
to requests for information, we've put together two collections of articles
and sites designed to cover several sides of a couple of controversial
issues. BLOCK SCHEDULING http://forum.swarthmore.edu/mathed/block.schedules.html
"Block Scheduling Causes More Problems Than It Solves" "The
Power of Innovative Scheduling" ... GROUPING & TRACKING - PROS
& CONS http://forum.swarthmore.edu/mathed/math.grouping.html "Reforming
Schools in a Climate of Skepticism" "The Other Crisis in American
Education" ... -\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
FROM THE EMAILBAG I'm looking for places that have information on teaching
division to elementary school students. Do you know of a site on the Web
that would help me? Thank you. - Elizabeth .::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.::.
Hi Elizabeth - The Math Forum is designed to help you find such sites!
Here are some ways of going about finding what you want: I. You might start
with our COMPLEX SEARCHER of Internet math sites: http://forum.swarthmore.edu/~steve/mathall.search.html
Enter the words DIVIDE DIVISION DIVISIBLE in the keyword space, select
the button for AT LEAST ONE of these words, check the box for ELEMENTARY
LEVEL, and submit your search. You'll get back a couple of dozen sites
to explore that have to do with division at the elementary level. .::.::.::.::.::.::.::.
* You can find our complex math searcher - from our home page: select SEARCH
The Annotated Forum Collection of Internet Math Resources (Steve's Dump)
and choose Complex Search of Math Resources; or - from the SEARCH LINK
in the menu bar at the bottom of almost any page on our site - look in
the top menu bar of the search page that's returned for "Complex Search."
To find what's in our Dr. Math archives and elsewhere on our site, try
the same search (without specifying elementary) from our main search link
in the bottom menu bar on almost every Forum page. http://forum.swarthmore.edu/grepform.html
.::.::.::.::.::.::.::. II. If you'd like to see our list of elementary
math sites, take a look at http://forum.swarthmore.edu/~steve/steve/mathelem.html
You can also get there from the link to Steve's Dump in the bottom menu
bar on our pages. In the Browse section you'll find Mathematics by LEVEL.
We hope you find what you need. Thanks for writing in! -\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
CHECK OUT OUR WEB SITE: The Math Forum http://forum.swarthmore.edu/ Ask
Dr. Math http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/ Problem of the Week http://forum.swarthmore.edu/pow2/
Internet Resources http://forum.swarthmore.edu/~steve/ (Steve's Dump) SEND
COMMENTS TO comments@forum.swarthmore.edu TO SUBSCRIBE: Send a message
to majordomo@forum.swarthmore.edu and write in the body subscribe newsletter
_o \o_ __| \ / |__ o _ o/ \o/ __|- __/ \__/o \o | o/ o/__ /\ /| | \ \ /
\ / \ /o\ / \ | \ / | / \ / \ The Math Forum ** 14 October 1996 You will
find this newsletter, a FAQ, and directions for subscribing archived at
http://forum.swarthmore.edu/electronic.newsletter/ From: "John C.
Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.eduTo: "Local forum on
educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.eduSubject:
Re: Looking for information on math On Sat, 28 Sep 1996, Sean Barrett wrote:
> . . . the basic math students question, "What will I ever use
this > information for?" If math instruction proceeds in the context
of meaningful use of math, then the question never comes up, because the
purpose of learning the math would be to meet the mathematical demands
of the *present* activity. John Champagne http://www.oocities.org "These
people, [Martin Luther King and others], understood that revolutions need
pragmatism as well as idealism to succeed." -- Walter Cronkite From:
Stephen Weimar <dr.math-admin@forum.swarthmore.eduTo: "Local forum
on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.eduSubject:
Join the Ask Dr. Math team Hello! In fall of 1994, the Math Forum at Swarthmore
College (then the Geometry Forum - http://forum.swarthmore.edu/) started
an e-mail program called Ask Dr. Math. The idea was to answer any and all
math questions from K-12 students as fast and as well as we could. We began
with an e-mail address and a dozen math students who signed on to answer
questions in shifts around the clock. The project worked. In fact, it worked
better than we imagined it would! Instead of ten questions a week, we now
get over forty questions a day. We have answered thousands of questions,
and more keep coming. The volume of questions has grown so large that even
though we now have more doctors, we still cannot keep up. Therefore, we
are inviting qualified undergrads, retired teachers, and practicing mathematicians
to help us turn Dr. Math into one of the strongest mathematical resources
on the Internet. As a Math Doctor you will have the opportunity to answer
the math questions of K-12 students from all over the world. Questions
may range from "How do you add really big numbers?" to problems
involving sphere packing and complex analysis. You will be able to answer
some questions in five minutes. Some might take an hour. Some you will
never solve. Some have never been solved by anyone. All will make you a
better teacher and student of mathematics. You will also be reminded of
the reasons why you got into mathematics in the first place: because when
you saw the Pythagorean theorem it was beautiful, and when you saw the
fundamental theorem of calculus, you thought it was fun. You'll have not
only the joy of recognizing that you can help those who are where you were
5, 10, or 30 years ago, but also the opportunity to help give them a love
for mathematics. All it takes to be a Math Doctor is a knowledge and love
of mathematics, a knack for explaining mathematics, and access to a good
browser like Netscape 3.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.1. If you meet
these criteria we'd love to have you join us. The first step is to look
at the Dr. Math Tour and Help pages: http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/office_help/
Here you will find a form that will let you officially apply to become
a Math Doctor. We look forward to virtually seeing you around the office.
Ken, Steve, and Sydney The Chiefs of Staff Ask Dr. Math http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/
From: "John
C. Champagne" <jchampag@lonestar.utsa.eduTo: "Local forum
on educational possibilities of the Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.eduSubject:
Re: Typing: Adopt a rational keyboard pattern... On Sat, 19 Oct 1996, David
Cozzens wrote: > . . . . in regards to keyboarding (typing) instruction.
> What grade is it formally introduced? > Who provides the instruction?
> What skill level should students achieve? > Who provides the instruction?
(Certified typing teacher)? > What schedule seems to work best? (daily,
every other day, weekly) > How much total is given to instruction? >
. . . . At the school where I am tutoring first and second graders in reading,
we are about to begin the process of installing the Dvorak keyboard into
the school's computers. This will mean that the home keys, 'aoeu htns',
will be letters that together can spell hundreds of words, and when we
add one or two letters from off the home keys, we can spell thousands of
words. The natural inclination, then, will be to learn and use the home
keys, and every time we type, we will improve our keyboard skills almost
effortlessly. We may want to instruct the learners in technique somewhat,
pointing out that curved fingers, (rather than a flatter hand), allow the
movement to another letter simply by bending our finger, rather than moving
our whole hand. The adoption of a more rational keyboard pattern that virtually
teaches itself allows us to shift our attention to the more important and
more interesting subject of the writing process itself. Authentic writing
is the focus, and the content of our messages is paramount, with keyboards
getting as much attention as our pencil an paper might--or less. (To give
credit where it is due: The QWERTY keyboard patters is a rational design
for the needs which it was created to address. The machines used to jam
if typists went too fast, (using the then common 'ABCDEFG' pattern), so
the most often-used letters were spread around the keyboard to slow down
the typists enough to prevent jamming. 'QWERTY' was also a boon to typewriter
salesmen, who could spell 'TYPEWRITER' from the top row without having
to search the whole keyboard for letters.) John Champagne http://www.oocities.org/athens/1942
If half the people do not take part in the election, and half of those
who do take part vote for someone other than the bigest vote-getter, and
if half of those voting for him say that they were more voting against
the other guy than really expressing what their first choice might be,
how long can we continue to claim that this represents any kind of mandate
from the people. Perhaps the electors will prove their worth, call this
spade, and elect someone who we could most all agree on and support, and
who would do it if we ask. Walter Cronkite for President! Franklin Thomas
for President! To: "Local forum on educational possibilities of the
Net" <ednet@noc1.oit.umass.eduSubject: Re: John's theme Steve,
I agree with your cybertime on John's theme that we should not use a double
standard when instructing students about saying no to immediate gratification
and pleasure. Pleasure is a motive, and all decisions are based on considerations
of pleasure and not the consequences of those actions. I think our culture
feels that pleasure is the principal motive for living and pleasure is
always good, regardless of its source. Our belief that moment to moment
pleasure is more desirable, is because we are not taught potential pleasures
that are long range are lasting and more desirable. So how are we doing
at teaching our students to use restraint in seeking pleasure, and that
the pursuit of pleasure must be controlled? BFN, william >>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>>
William Lynch ### lynchw@nevada.edu University of Nevada at Las Vegas College
of Business and Economics <<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<





John Champagne



© 1996 jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu

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