All Class Needs Is Evidence It Works

Ever since the opening fanfare last fall that attracted visitors ranging from network television crews to Gov. George Deukmejian, there has been little doubt that the high-tech, experimental science room at E. O. Green Junior High School at least looks impressive.

A mechanical turtle draws graphs on the surface of an illuminated 4-by-8-foot table. Students, who are continually quizzed by state-of-the-art software, sit at glass-topped desks with color computer monitors underneath. Even a 2-foot robot has been programmed to gush pleasantries as tour groups arrive to marvel.

But, with a few skeptics in the wings and a $1-million grant pending before the Legislature, officials in the Hueneme School District wanted some proof that the learning center--dubbed SmartClassroom--was truly as smart as they believed it to be.

Any hope of soon securing that evidence, however, fizzled last week. As administrators analyzed year-end test results, they were dismayed to learn that a science test, devised to chart the progress of the students, had not been given in September as planned.

A glitch in the computer system at the time had prevented the exam from being administered electronically.

“We’re all kind of upset because we wanted to get some kind of facts,” said Don Cody, an administrative assistant who coordinates testing for the district. “We think the (academic) growth is there, but we just can’t quantify it. We don’t have the hard-nut stuff.”

Praise and Debate

It was an ironic conclusion to a celebratory year for the classroom, which district officials say offers the most sophisticated application of computer technology in a public school. The experiment has been hailed by corporate groups, has been profiled in journals and has ended up in the middle of Sacramento’s debate over education spending.

By combining Space Age gadgetry with an advanced computer network, boosters say, the sleek science room not only keeps students motivated but allows them to work, sitting side by side, at their own levels and speeds.

Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) was so impressed after a visit last fall that he introduced legislation that would give the district $1 million to expand the program, which cost $140,000, into a prototype for the rest of the state’s schools.

“They’ve simply reinvented education from scratch. That classroom is light years ahead of anything going on,” said McClintock, adding that he believes eventually “parents from Eureka to San Diego will be demanding the same for their children.”

But some skeptics, concerned that not enough is known about the Oxnard classroom to justify an infusion of tax dollars, wonder whether some of the technical wizardry is more flash than substance.

“I don’t think those questions have been answered yet,” said Barbara O’Connor, chairwoman of the state’s Educational Technology Committee, which advises the Board of Education. “We want to express some caution until something is known about how learning behavior is affected by technology.”

Similarly, Rick Uelmen, president of the Hueneme district teachers’ union, expressed dismay that school district money was used to build the classroom without consulting instructors.

“It kind of lowers morale a bit,” Uelmen said. “We’re really jumping headlong into this, and no one really knows whether it’s going to work or not.”

On the surface, at least, there is little disagreement that the junior high classroom has left its traditional counterparts far behind.

The room looks a bit like the bridge of a starship, with virtually no paper or books to be found. Students sit on hydraulically adjustable chairs as they work at keyboards stored below their desks in pullout drawers. The lights are dimmed, an effect that serves to soothe students and cut glare on their computer screens.

A giant microwave dish, donated by GTE, provides access to a full spectrum of cable television stations and national weather networks. A complete set of encyclopedias is stored on a 5-inch compact disk. Demonstrations can be broadcast via closed-circuit television camera to monitors at all 18 desks.

“Why shouldn’t they have this available to them?” said Dick Miller, assistant superintendent for educational services in the district, which covers Port Hueneme and part of Oxnard. “It’s out there. The world is passing us by.”

In fact, the Hueneme district was passed by last year when the state rejected its bid to be one of five school districts to receive $500,000 in high-tech grants for each of the next three years. By the 1990s, state officials hope they will have learned enough from those districts--Los Angeles Unified, Alhambra, Monterey, Cupertino and Sacramento--to develop guidelines for other districts that want to follow suit.

Hueneme district administrators, however, were not deterred, and, dipping into their share of state lottery money, built the SmartClassroom anyway.

Chapter on Oceanography

On a recent day, some of the 30 seventh-graders working on a chapter about oceanography were busy watching a public television video being projected directly through their desk-tops.

Other students were following a computerized lesson about ocean life featuring animated pictures of sea anemones sucking up their prey.

In another corner of the room, a few students were playing a video game in which they had to test their aquatic knowledge by deciding whether to pit one type of fish against another.

“You learn, but I think it’s mostly just fun,” said Sandra Bravo, 12, shortly after she made the mistake of letting a chub get gobbled by a Mackinaw trout.

But other students, such as 14-year-old Armando Serna, take the experimental lab seriously.

“I was getting F’s in the other science class. Now I’m up to a B-plus,” he said. “It was a lack of concentration before. This keeps you on it every day.”

Administrators in this district of 7,000 students, about 65% of whom are minorities, say such signs of progress are gradually beginning to emerge.

Differences in Grade Averages

For the first half of the year, students in the school’s traditional science class earned grades averaging 2.75, compared with a 3.36 average for students in the SmartClassroom. When the students switched classrooms after midyear, the averages were reversed.

“With the computers, I can go sit with a kid for 10 minutes and know my class isn’t going to fall apart,” said Mary Samples, instructor for the class. “Kids turn off so early. You need to be looking for ways to keep them motivated.”

Even though the lack of quantifiable evidence has kept some eyebrows raised, Samples said she is convinced of the classroom’s merits.

“I know people want to see some hard data,” she said. “But I see it in the kids. They believe it. They feel they can succeed.”