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Show Staying late after school is a treat for Middle School computer programmers . " v t. r I ill I v tr f l-,. ! ; it, W - 1 by Nan Chalat "I'm seeing something I've never seen before. I can't get these kids to go home. They are positively broken-hearted when their programs don't work and they want to stay until they get it right," said Treasure Mountain Middle School (TMMS) science teacher Sam Sevier of his enthusiastic enthusias-tic computer students. Last week, seven new Apple micro computers were delivered to the middle school where they were anxiously awaited by 48 students signed up for computer com-puter science classes during the first quarter of the school year. One hundred and sixty-five students had asked to be considered for the hottest new class on the TMMS curriculum. The lucky 48, 12 from each grade, were selected by a random drawing. During the quarter, Sevier's Se-vier's students will learn to write their own programs and to speak the computer language BASIC. "Most of the students are already familiar with computers because every time they drop a quarter in a video game they are essentially using someone else's program. pro-gram. Now they are learning to write their own and they are very excited about it," he said. Several of the students u I i immur - if r-nTiirnnn i m n i iimnr mi i Tina Loomer and Robyn Adamson work together to initialize a disc for the school's new Apple j micro computer. have personal computers at home and signed up for the class to learn how to use them. Seventh-grader Judd Nelson is taking the class "so I can teach my dad about it." Classmate Gena Glenne thinks, "Computers are fun," and her friend Ena Eakin adds, "I think it is the new development of the future." The new computers are part of a $60,000 purchase of hardware and software for all three schools approved by the Park City Board of Education last month. According Ac-cording to Sevier, the new computers will give the students important hands-on experience. "Programming computers is like skiing. You don't learn from watching or reading a book. You learn from doing it," he said. "Last week I went to Sears to have my car tuned up and the mechanic was using a computer scope. I think that more understanding of the process. When a student writes an algebra program he learns how to derive the formula, not just how to plug in the numbers," he said. Computers are also being used successfully as teaching teach-ing aids. Sevier described one program which is used r (nonh rr iiliirlirt i sn tells you something about how vital computer experience ex-perience is going to be when these kids start looking for jobs," said Sevier. In the meantime, he has observed that the use of computers in the classroom has increased his students' motivation and interest in learning. He said that there is little danger that computers compu-ters will replace teachers ("There will still be a need for human interaction") or that students will let the computers do the learning for them. "It is erroneous to think that it will do it for you. Using a computer results in tables. The multipliers appear ap-pear on the screen as meteors and students must type in the correct answer before the meteors are blown up. "But teachers must be selective in choosing choos-ing programs because some are too game-like," he said. "Computers are great. They never yell at a kid for making a dumb mistake and they are endlessly patient," he added. "I really don't see any retreat from the computer compu-ter era." Sevier admits that computers compu-ters "are scary for lots of adults," but they certainly aren't for the TMMS students stu-dents I '. , |