Updated 06/24/2009 05:14 PM
Computer program lets students help teachers
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WILMINGTON -- Students do not get the chance to control a classroom, but as part of a UNC Wilmington study, some southeastern North Carolina middle and high scholars are using a special computer program to design lesson plans for their teachers.
The program, used by students from Pender, Brunswick and New Hanover Counties, is called Squeak.
Brunswick County Early College student Spencer Pruitt said this will help fellow students get interested in learning.
"It just gives kids a visual picture of what they're learning," Pruitt said. "If you just learn through a textbook, it's going to be boring and kids aren't going to be interested. I mean, I've been doing it for nine years. It's not fun."
Teachers like Steve Garrett supervised students as they designed the programs. Garrett, a Topsail High teacher, said he understands the need to use newer methods of teaching.
"The kids have an opportunity to apply what they've learned and use the computer to emulate that on the screen instead of just using pencil and paper," said Garrett.
The UNC Wilmington Department of Computer Science is testing the effectiveness of applying the free program at middle and high schools.
"Allocating money for software purchases is quite difficult. Squeak happens to be an open-source software. It is free to download," said Sridhar Narayan, with Department of Computer Science.
Teachers like Jerome Hoskins said they find these lesson plans so helpful they want their entire schools to start using them.
"The program just gives so much opportunity for the students to peruse open-ended problems and get such a deeper level of understanding of the content area, that I think a lot of teachers will benefit from trying this," said Hoskins, a North Brunswick High Teacher.
So far, more than 100 students have helped create their own program, and thousands more could soon be using them.
The UNCW study is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation for more than $1 million that will fund the program for over three years.