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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN
LIMA NEWSLETTER -- 1993
~~~~~ TI-101 ~~~~~
OUR 4/A UNIVERSITY
by Jack Sughrue
Box 459
E.Douglas MA 01516
#7 MODULATING ACADEMIC LIFE
The TI, Class, in case you
haven't been conscious the previous
six classes, is unique in the
computer world. Not only were there
hexbuses and something like wafer
tape available or almost available
for awhile in its erratic history.
No, Mr.^Shakespeare, not erotic! I
said erratic.
Anyway, Class, not only were
there exotic forms of connection -
No, Mr.^Shakespeare, I said "exotic!"
- and storage, but the variety of
usable storage forms still exceeds
anything out there for any computer.
In addition to hard drives, both
size floppies, a variety of RAM
disks and supercarts and gram
devices, and specific modules (and
things that plug into or are soldered
onto all kinds of places), the TI
also uses ordinary cassette tape as
storage/retrieval.
Now this may seem a surfeit of
options, but there are TIers out
there who are using each and every
one of these items on a daily basis,
and their perception of our wonderful
machine is viewed through these
devices.
Because you are all taking this
course to find out how best to use
the TI as an educational tool for
yourself, your friends, your family,
your new TI converts, your own
classrooms, we will explore ways in
this session to modulate your TI to
suit your needs. As most of you here
are parents, grandparents, or
classroom teachers and your concern
is with the 4A as learning tool,
let's first review your notes.
You'll find that newsletters, user
group friends, TIGERCUB, local fairs,
and MICROpendium are your immediate
best sources for what is
educationally available for the TI.
The magazine carries the classifieds,
as well as ads for ASGARD,
COMPRODINE, TEXCOMP and other agents
for educational materials.
If you look at my greying temples
you will probably understand that I
have been at this computer game for a
bit.
Ho! Thank you, Ms.^Bronte. I
wondered if anyone got the humor of
that.
Well, being around a bit -
particularly teaching these kinds of
courses to teachers - I have learned
that the old is not necessarily the
worst, even in the whizzly world of
electronics.
By a show of hands, how many of
you have more than one console?
Okay, that's most of you. How many
have more than one P-Box? Ah, so
there are many consoles not being
used. How about tape recorders? So
you all still have your tape
recorders. Good.
Write today (and send $10) for
Mickey Schmitt's (196 Broadway Ave.,
Lower Burrell PA 15068) fantastic TI
cassette book, GETTING THE MOST FROM
YOUR CASSETTE SYSTEM, and another $5
to Jim Cox (905 Edgebrook Dr.,
Boylston MA 01505) for MUNCH's
incredible disk of the ultimate in
cassette programming (Disk 89, which
also includes all of the cassette
utility programs in the book, as
well as others from all over the
world). It has loads of samples, too.
Did you know, for example, that you
can use your cassette to actually run
dumped modules like "Yahtzee?" Or
that you can program your cassettes
to locate at high speed from a
cassette menu? And then run the
programs automatically, whether XB or
EA? Those programs are all on MUNCH
Disk 89. And with cassette programs
loaded and running there is no P-Box
fan noise, because there is no
P-Box!
I say all this, Class, because in
looking through my notes after last
session's discussion of textware, I
uncovered a box containing cassettes.
It was marked "Education for Home and
Classroom." It should have been
marked "Treasures."
So many of my teachers from the
past couple years have told me that
they are still using cassettes in
their classrooms (mostly elementary,
I might add), that I asked if they'd
bring in a few for demoing. That's
when I learned about all these new
ways of cassetting. But, more
importantly, I had a chance to renew
my acquaintance with some of the best
non-cartridge, non-disk learning
material available. A lot of these
great programs have been translated
to disk, however, and are still in
classroom and home use in that form,
too. Most of these disks can
probably be gotten from Jim Peterson
of TIGERCUB (156 Collingwood Ave.,
Columbus OH 43213).
In this little box of treasures,
though, were some extraordinary
things I'd like to share with you. To
begin with, there were some KIDWARE
tapes. All KIDWARE tapes are superb.
I pulled out "Lemonade" and played
it. This is a thinking activity for
running a lemonade stand. All kinds
of decisions must be made by the
players. I've played versions for
other computers that have more toots,
but this is more realistic and
intelligent. I'd forgotten how great
the KIDWARE educational tapes were.
They still are. Collect all the
KIDWARE programs you can.
That goes for a couple other
companies, too, who made educational
tapes specifically for the TI. Two
of the biggest and best were SUNGEM
and INTELLESTAR.
The former had the most
extraordinary setups. In almost all
their games, SUNGEM allowed you to
use your console to the maximum. The
opening menu asked if you were using
BASIC or XB or Speech Synthesizer or
TEII. It would build its high-level
sound around your personal
configuration. They had some monster
tapes that haven't been equalled even
today (for tapes, that is). Things
like "Searcher of the Solar System,"
which is still one of the best ways
to actively involve a learner in a
challenging, creative, informative
way about the planets. I know a lot
of teachers who are still using their
"Telling Time" program which not only
shows the hands on a clock but speak
the exact time in a series of
build-upon activities. Their "Math
Challenge" graphically challenged the
students in addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division. There
were other math and spelling and
social studies games, too. Quite a
company for educators and parents.
And, of course, kids.
INTELLESTAR's approach was quite
different. First, they had science
tapes, which nobody else had. These
included the classic "CELLS: the
Building Blocks of Life," which is
one of the greatest things ever done
on tape. Actually, it is on three
tapes. Also in their Life Science
series was "Inside Frankie Stein," an
interactive trip through the human
body, and "Heart Attack," where you,
as doctor or nurse, must monitor a
patient to prevent an attack. Other
science and math activities included
"Fireball" and "Vyger" (their
spelling). "States Alive" was their
social studies contribution.
But their masterpiece is "E.T." -
"The Everything Teacher." This
6-tape educational gem should be in
every teacher's classroom, in every
home where there are children.
Basically, there is a file editor.
This creates the master data base for
all the programs that make up this
classroom environment. The four
one/two player or team games include
"TV Sweepstakes," which is a game
show that uses the created files.
It's a funny and fast-paced and
graphically well-designed show that
requires quick thinking on the part
of the participants. "Baseball" is
just that. Graphically the "batter's
team" hits and scores as in regular
baseball, but only by answering the
data-based questions. The same or
different questions may be used for
"Space Patrol - Lost!" and "Last
Jellybean on Earth." All four of
these "quizzes" are lots of fun and
ingeniously created.
The "Everything Teacher" guides
you easily through their data base to
create, literally, everything you
need for the children (or adults) you
want to have play these games. Score
is kept in each game, too. So,
conceivably, you could have some
math, language, science, social
studies, and whatever files for all
occasions.
SUNGEM can pretty well operates
without its accompanying text
materials; INTELLESTAR's programs
need the directions, KIDWARE
directions are right on the screen
menu.
But, can you imagine this kind of
stuff out there on tape!
There were a couple companies
that made educational tape programs
for multiple computers, when those
others had tapes, even though TI was
the only one that worked well.
Anyway, a couple of these educational
companies made excellent TI stuff.
SCHOLASTIC put out three things:
"Electronic Party," a colorful screen
occasion card maker; "Square Pairs,"
the very best concentration-style
game ever made for our computer; and
"Turtle Tracks," an intelligent
LOGO-like program that has some extra
special items I wish were included in
regular LOGO (such as their unique
Picture Codes that let you draw in a
pattern ).
"Tiny LOGO," done on tape just for
the TI, by the way, is another superb
LOGO-like program that runs in BASIC,
rather than XB, as in "Turtle
Tracks."
SUNBURST produced two programs,
at least, for the TI. The only one I
own and have used is "Arrow
Dynamics," which like most of the
others I've mentioned, really take
tape instruction and activity to its
limits. The object is simply to move
an arrow across a playing grid from
one goal to another. However, the
movements (one square at a time) must
be stated in a LOGO-like structure.
Then the obstacles are added (such as
90-degree deflection mirrors) and the
fun begins! This is a stupendous
thinking game. I only wish I knew
where I could get hold of the other
SUNBURST games, if they match up to
this one at all.
Speaking of LOGO, which we will
discuss in the last session next time
in greater detail, there was also a
language for teachers called ASPIC
created specifically for the TI and
used with tape recorders back in the
old days. The BEST OF 99er book,
mentioned last time, contains this
entire language in its educational
section. Worth exploring if you only
have the basic system, even without
XB.
But dust off those tape recorders
and look in your friend's or your
group's library or at fairs or maybe
even in tape-filled shoeboxes at the
back of your closet to gather up and
use these and hundreds of other
exceptional educational tape
programs. If you find them on disk,
transfer them to tape using the
automatic disk to tape transfer
programfrom the MUNCH disk. And get
more than one computer going. Or
dedicate one just to the significant
children in your life at home or
school.
Believe me, your basic console
with a tape recorder, coupled with an
appropriate selection of educational
tapes and cartridges, can provide
enough educational material for
anyone's childhood. And then some.
And more than any other computer on
the market today.
Oops! I almost forgot the two
tapes that are in almost everybody's
library: OLDIES BUT GOODIES I && II
put out by TI. They contain some of
the very best educational taped
software in existence; things like
Hammurabi, Hidden Pairs, Tictactoe,
3-D Tictactoe, Number Scramble, Word
Scramble, Word Safari, Factor Foe,
Peg Jump, and so on. Incomparable
classics that the new generation of
TI learners have probably not
experienced, even though some may be
old hat to you. Dig them out.
Matter of fact, even some of
those books we mentioned from TEXCOMP
last time can come with tapes, in
case typing in those programs from
the texts is a problem. I think
ASGARD (P.O.Box 10306 - free
catalog), which is still making
cartridges, including an educational
one for pre-school and primary
children, still sells tapes and also
educational materials.
So much for tapes, Class.
Last time I asked you to bring in
all the educational cartridges you
have at home or school for sharing
and show and tell.
Cartridges are the best
educational tool for any computer.
The kids of any age can pop in the
carts, turn on the computers and
monitors, and run the stuff by
themselves until bedtime. Though the
modules were made by many different
companies, including TI, I don't
believe any other educational
computer tool truly equals the ease
of operation, the direct addressing
of the desired skills, the positive
reinforcement of successes (with
colorful animation and music and
loads of other toots and whistles and
golden goodies unique to the 4A), and
the understanding of the
developmental level of the learner
and the positive need for an
entertainingly high motivational
structure.
Anyway, Class, the TI cartridges
still available in all the places
we've been mentioning all semester
long - Look to your notes! - include
excellent card and board strategy
games like BLACKJACK and CHESS and
OTHELLO, which no one can deny are
skill building, thinking activities.
They also have the logic problems
which enhance map skills (and
foresight) such as A-MAZE-ING and
HUNT THE WUMPUS and ZERO ZAP.
Standard boxed games like YAHTZEE and
CONNECT FOUR surely are strategy
learning tools. So, too, would be
the Adams' ADVENTURE INTERNATIONAL
SERIES which is made for interactive
play only on computers and demand
high-level reading comprehension
skills and long attention spans to
even begin to play them properly.
Cartridges like TI WRITER and MUSIC
MAKER are definitely educational
tools, also.
Though nobody could deny the
efficacy of these and many others as
learning tools, they were not
specifically designed as educational
cartridges.
I want to take a few moments to
put one list of some of the
educationally-designed cartridges on
the overhead here.
This is just a partial listing,
of course, and it would not include
the fantastic modular software that
was created but never released in
module form. Most of those items are
available on disk, butmany require a
GRAM device or a GENEVE to operate.
Nor am I including PLATO, TI's
ultimate 180-disk courseware learning
system for learners from primary
through adult, including GED exam
preparation.
No. What I'm showing is mostly
the stand-alone education-specific
cartridges I found available at the
last computer fair I went to in
Boston a few weeks ago, as they
probably are available from all those
other resources we listed this
semester.
The ones with an asterisk use
very sophisticated speech that still
is not found in educational programs
for other computers.
EARLY LEARNING FUN, BEGINNING
GRAMMAR, NUMBER MAGIC, VIDEO GRAPHS,
EARLY READING*, ADDITION &&
SUBTRACTION I/II*, MULTIPLICATION
I/II*, READING FUN*, READING (ON,
ROUNDUP, RALLY, FLIGHT, etc.)*,
SCHOLASTIC SPELLING 1-6*, DIVISION
I/II*, TOUCH TYPING TUTOR, COMPUTER
MATH GAMES I-III, MILLIKEN MATH,
ALIEN ADDITION, MINUS MISSION,
ALLIGATOR MIX, METEOR MULTIPLICATION,
DEMOLITION DIVISION, DRAGON MIX,
COMPUTER MATH GAMES 1-6, NUMERATION
I/II, HONEYHUNT*, MICROSURGEON*,
TERRY TURTLE'S ADVENTURE*, FACEMAKER,
HANGMAN, STORY MACHINE*, VIDEO GRAPHS
and on and on and on and on.
Time's up! Homework this week is
take, use (preferably with a young
learner), and evaluate three of these
modules. And be prepared to
demonstrate them for us at the next
session, which will be our last
before the final.
No, Mr.^Shakespeare, we will not
be discussing things erotic next
time. But we will be discussing a
pretty hot topic: the very sexy LOGO
II.