T/S Goes To Camp

Computing is fast becoming the latest thing in both day and overnight camps, and many camps across the country already include it among some of their activities.

Ah, summer camp. The smell of wood smoke at dusk, the tender-tight feel of a sunburnt nose and tiFed paddling muscles, the sounds of shouts and splashes from the lake broken only by the electronic beeps from the dining hall.

You know — the dining hall, where the kids work with their computers each mornings.

It had to happen. Even the Boy Scouts have been invaded. Their directors are now working with Timex on a program to lead to a Merit Badge in computers.

“People say it’s awful, kids are going to start thinking like computers,” says Dr. Mark Wasicsko, associate dean at Texas Wesleyan College’s School of Education in Fort Worth. “But wait just a minute and think about it. A computer is only a tool, not the answer to life’s problems, but a rational analytical tool. Training a kid to use a computer helps him or her become, more analytical, precise and better at problem solving.”

Wasicsko watched it happen a couple of years ago with his own kids when they begged him to buy some video games. He refused. Then he saw an ad for the TS/1000 and bought it with some books and programs so they could make their own games. Wasicsko says his kids sat down with it figured it out in no time, and now have the expertise to handle just about any computer on the market.

He is now hoping to repeat the experiment with some 200 kids at the Wesleyan Summer Computer Camp, co-sponsored by the college and Timex Computer Corporation.

The camp, for day students only, runs from mid-June to mid-August with 60 kids in each two-week session. Each camper receives a T/S1000 to use at the camp and take home at the end of the session. On the first day there is also a half-hour class in which parents are taught how the computer hooks up to a television set.

The campers keep busy with las sons in terminology, how computers work, applications, BASIC-language programming, field trips to computer-related agencies, programming contests and, on the final afternoon, a computer fair where they get to show off everything they’ve learned.

“The first thing we’ll do in the morning is answer questions from the homework assignment the kids did the night before,” says Wasicsko. “We’ll share problems, solutions and discoveries they’re making about their computers.”

Wasicsko stresses that there will be physical exercise as well, with swimming and sports every afternoon. “We don’t want the kids to become hackers or zombies sitting in front of their machines all day.”

The cost per camper — $225, which includes lunch, field trips, all materials and the T/S1000 — is kept low thanks to grants from Timex and the college, and due to the fact that none of the faculty are being paid; for them the camp is a training ground where they’ll learn to teach computer literacy. Next summer, most will run computer labs in their own schools. By then, Wasicsko hopes to increase the number of sessions at Wesleyan to accommodate more students. “The phone’s been ringing off the hook,” he says. “Everyone wants to take the course.”

Besides teaching kids and training teachers, the Wesley an camp will also serve to thoroughly test almost every piece of T/S1000 hardware and software on the market. “Tm collecting every piece of it I can get,” says Wasicsko, “and it’ll all be used and evaluated by both kids and teachers.”

The reason he chose the T/S1000 in the first place, he says is the price. “If you want to teach computer literacy, you’ve got to have hands-on time, and that’s directly related to cost.” What’s more, he adds, “I like it because you can teach an entire math course on it — from pre-school to college calculus, or grammar skills by using it as a word processor. Another thing about the Timex Sinclair is that once you know how it works, it’s easy to move on to other machines, which is not true the other way around.”

Ken Hollandsworth, an educational consultant for Timex, has a keen interest in the Wesleyan camp. “Mark is one of several leading educators we’re working with,” he reports. “Our plans are ambitious and growing — we’ve got camps in Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Delaware.”

He explains that the Wesleyan camp is specifically integrated with the college’s teacher-training program, but cites other camps where the main purpose is to increase computer literacy among school children.

“In Florida alone we’re expecting 15,000 kids to go through camps set up in 80 different school districts.”

The man behind the Florida program is Dr. Martin Ryder, head of the graduate school of education at Rollins College in Winter Park.

“We started out by sending letters to 800 Parent-Teacher Associations across Florida asking if they were interested in setting up summer camps,” he says. “Within two weeks 45 schools signed up and we’re getting more each day.”

Three teachers from each school have been training at Rollins on the weekends in preparation to teach at the camps. They are learning such basics as programming, simple plotting and account statements, curriculum development and instruction.

All the camps are day camps with three hours of instruction in either the morning or afternoon. The cost is $60 per week and kids can sign up for two to six weeks. Individual computers are supplied by Timex and will be sold at a discount at the end of each session. Administrative support is financed by a group called CACI (Ryder says the letters no longer stand for anything), an organization that has a contract with Timex to be the educational distributor of the T/S1000.

“The neat thing,” says Ryder, “is that the camps are so cheap and accessible for kids — they’re all within walking distance or easy transportation.”

Another boost for the program, says Ryder, is that the state of Florida takes computer literacy very seriously. “There’s now a mandate on the legislative docket that students be required to have at least one semester of computer instruction prior to graduation.”

Meanwhile, in Connecticut, a pilot program involving Timex and the Taft Educational Center in Watertown is offering a two- to four-week program for both day and overnight campers from all over America.

Director Edward North describes the program as primarily a laboratory for teachers to learn to teach on a computer, like the one at Wesleyan.

As for the campers, “the program combines computer training with field biology,” says North. “The T/SI000 interfaces well with lab equipment — you don’t need much more than a 16K memory — and kids will learn that a computer in the laboratory has many uses.”

Morning classes will teach BASIC programming to beginners and computer applications to more advanced students. Afternoon activities include biological science studies in the surrounding countryside plus games, tennis and swimming. As in the Florida camps, the machines are supplied by Timex and will be sold at a discount at the end of the camp.

If other educators across the country are interested in setting up similar camps, Hollandsworth says he is prepared to supply information and operating assistance. “If people are sincere and the program is an ambitious one, we can even send out Mark (Wasicsko), Marty (Ryder) or Ed (North),” he suggests. Anyone who wants to take up his offer should write to Ken Hollandsworth, Timex Computer Corporation, P.0, Box 2655, Waterbury, Connecticut 06725.