The Campus Chat (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 51, No. 64, Ed. 1 Friday, August 9, 1968 Page: 2 of 4
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PAGE 2, EDITORIALS
Friday, August 9, 1968
'I See • •.
I Remember'
Mini-students Battle Math Concepts
5m1
A Buck for Bach
Dixon Dollar
Gains Little
Students will put up an extra dollar for entertain-
ment this fall, but the prospect for more "top notch"
shows than last year is about as exciting as a Bach
Aria Group.
Last spring, in a move to bring "big names" to the
campus, the student body president asked for and
will get a dollar from each student at registration this
fall. The money, as much as $28,000 for the two se-
mesters, will be spent by the newly formed Student
Activities Committee (SAC), a student-faculty group.
It was a popular proposal and seemed to promise
improvement over a succession of obscure programs
that had been brought to the campus by the Fine Arts
Committee, another group that is financed by the
Activity Fee.
That committee, with $20,000 a year to use, had
managed the New Christy Minstrels and Carlos
Montoya sellouts, but its choices had often not inter-
ested students enough to fill half the Auditorium's
2,200 seats. Many thought two committees would be
twice as effective as one at getting popular attrac-
tions.
The hopes for twice as many standing room only
crowds in the Auditorium seemed unfounded last
week when the Fine Arts Committee announced the
1968-69 menu.
Imported for the students' pleasure, and purchased
with their money, will be such cultural appetizers as
an 18th Century play, the good-but-close-to-home Dal-
las Symphony, a Spanish folk dance group, and, of
all things, a Bach Aria Group. The fire marshall won't
have to worry about the crowds this season.
The committee chairman, Dr. William Belcher of
the English faculty, viewed it this way. "We an-
ticipate 1,500 to 1,800 persons to show up for the
performances this fall and spring," he said. In other
words from 400 to 700 seats will be available for the
students' coats.
Of course, North Texans, with a fine School of
Music, have an appreciation of the great German
composer and a passing interest in compositions
written for solo voice with orchestral accompaniment.
But importing a Bach Aria Group here is rather like
bringing a vocal coal to a melodic Newcastle.
At an' rate, even if the SAC does a fortissimo
job, there - ill be no more big hits than last year—
the Fine Arts Committee seems to have just stopped
trying.
As Dr. James L. Rogers, r.dministrative vice-presi-
dent, noted, "The Student Entertainment Fund will
be expended on more bands, singers, and comics."
The problem is that the Fine Arts Committee
seems to have taken this as a signal to bury its head
in the highbrow sand. Culture is a great thing and
it is the clear duty of a university to further it;
certainly no one would suggest that art be judged by
mass appeal. But this should not be carried to the
length of taking money from the Student Activity
Fund to finance, to say the least, programs of mar-
ginal student interest. Of course, the morality of
taxing 14,000 students for performances only 2,200
can possibly get in to see is less ignored.
The great point of all this is that the student body
has been ill served by the Fine Arts Committee,
particularly by those students who are appointed to
serve on it. They at least should be conscious of the
entertainment preferences of most North Texans.
Perhaps, and it is to be hoped, the Fine Arts
program is an isolated incident, or that the $20,000
is not enough, or the committee is dragging its feet
until the new, larger Coliseum is built. Maybe it is the
policy of geeking six so-so programs instead of two
first class ones that is the culprit. Any of these ex-
planations could be true.
But a grimmer possibility exists. Perhaps the new
fund is to be used to entertain the students and the
old machinery for that purpose is to be turned to
other things. If this should be true, students will get
nothing for their extra dollar and it is time to take
a long look at the two entertainment committees—
with an eye to incorporating them or dropping one.
—Michael Hopkins
F
OR
Y<
OUR
I
N FORMATION
Pinal examinations for this term will be
taken Friday, Aug. 23, by all atudenta except
candidates for graduation, who will take special
examinations earlier. Candidates will attend
' through Thursday, Aug. 22, and all other
will attend classes through Friday,
\ug. 28.
By PAT BRYAN
The als ve quotation is an old Chinese
proverb. Hut today it in the basin for a
research project being conducted by Dr.
Ida Mae Heard, who teaches mathematics
and education at North Texas State.
Dr. Heard believes that all students
have some natural ability in mathematics
and has set out to prove that this is
definitely true of kindergarten students.
During the past school term she has
spent 15 minutes a day presenting a
structured program of mathematics to
5-year-olds in the morning kindergarten
class at the North Texas Laboratory
School. Her basic thesis is that these
youngsters are more than ready for a
structured program of this type if it
is presented in a relaxed atmosphere of
learning through investigation and dis-
covery.
This year's work was the first part
of a seven-year study entitled "Creating
Curriculum materials in Mathematics for
Children in Grades K through 0." It was
financed by a $3,460 faculty grant,
which Dr. Heard received last summer.
The goal this first year was to intro-
duce young minds to an established pro-
gram that presented concepts of arith-
metic, intuitive geometry, informal ul-
gebra and graphs.
Geometric Progress
The 18 boys and seven girls from
middle-class Denton homes have learned
certain aspects of informal geometry,
such as identification of squares and
circles, concepts of sets and their opera-
tions, the meaning of the numl>ers front
1 to 10, and parts of informal algebra.
They also made and used three kinds of
graphs: a block graph of their birth-
days, a picture graph illustrating their
weights and a liar graph of their heights.
Their progress will be followed through
grade six with the aim of creating ap-
propriate materials to further their
learning of mathematics.
Dr. Heard is continuing to work with
these students this summer. In the fall,
she will compare the progress of her
"What I hear,
I forget;
What I see,
I remember;
What I do,
I understand."
group to the progress of a control group
at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School
in Denton. She hopes that the work done
this past year in the pre-school period
will have better prepared her students
for all types of learning in the first
grade, especially in mathematics.
Dr. Heard is aware of the increasing
importance of beginning the education
of young minds early.
She cites research studies showing
that most children accumulate 17 per
cent of life's learning between the ages
of 4 and 6. "In fact, another study shows
that half a child's learning takes place
by the time he is 8," she said.
Studies prove that the average child
reaches the height of his life's creativity
between 4 and 4V6. This creativity drops
when he enters school. Where students
have attended pre-school classes, the op-
posite happens.
Kindergarten Influential
All this would indicate that nursery
school and kindergarten could have a
significant influence on a child's learning
development as he moves out of his world
of childhood into one of reality.
"Most people realize that these years
are a period for children to adjust social-
ly and grow up physically and emo-
tionally, but I hold that it is also a time
to be stimulated intellectually, especial-
ly in the form of playing games," Dr.
Heard explained.
Dr, Heard is aware that many people
feel that one has to wait for a child to
get ready to learn—that readiness is
closely related to maturation.
"They overlook the fact that a stimu-
lating learning environment for mathe-
matics in the pre-school grades helps a
child prepare to work with a number of
ideas at a more sophisticated level in
later years," she said.
Reality Illustrated
This "stimulating" type of environ-
ment is what Dr. Heard has tried to
achieve at the Lab School--an atmos-
phere in which students learn by their
own discoveries.
vlO"
WEDTiniRm SAr
2 3 ' 4
To achieve understanding, young
children cannot deal with the abstract,
she said. They have to handle items—
beads, scales and globes. Hut setting
them free, she explained, does not mean
starting a riot with a roomful of junk
for ammunition.
"There are objects to feel and to
manipulate, pictures and charts to ex-
amine and other aids that feature the
numerals from l to 10 and beyond," she
explained.
Aware of the possibility that kinder-
gartens will become part of the public
school system. Dr. Heard spent much
time in preparation for the initial be-
ginnings of her study. She and Mrs.
Margaret Eden, Lab School instructor,
examined 14 different mathematics pro-
grams for kindergarten children before
setting down their own goals. These
programs stress how to learn, not what
to teach.
"In our mathematics prog-ram, it is
pertinent that the kindergarten is a
world designed for children to grow in
and learn as children and where play
is a basis for learning," she (minted out.
The first week of school was devoted
to testing not only arithmetic ability
Init other competences such as vocabu-
lary, ability to remember and the ability
to recognize numerals.
"Some knew what a circle looked
like; they could identify it; but they
called it a 'round,' " she recalls. Others
made the numeral :i like the letter E.
Although many students failed to say
the number names front 1 to 10© in
proper sequence, four managed to reach
100 with little difficulty. The mean num-
ber reached was 33.
Results Favorable
The result of the tosts were quite fa-
vorable. Compared with tost scores of
students from well-to-do areas, the Den-
ton children scored equally well in all
areas except writing numerals.
"Results of this inventory test indi-
cated that these students were more
than ready for a structured program in
mathematics," Dr. Heard said.
Dr. Heard relied on her experiences-—
and the children's both inside and out-
side of class for the some of the study.
She even went to the extreme of wearing
a pedometor as she made her daily
rounds from the Lab School to her
classes in the Physics Mathematics Build-
ing. "When I got to class, I'd let the
students tell me how far I'd walked since
they last saw me," she said. She had
to stop using this device l>e<-ause the
students were beginning to feel sorry for
her when the pedometer registered 10
miles a day.
Feedback Encouraged
Work was conducted in small groups
at tables where students felt free to
offer contributions at ony time. Instruc-
tion was in a conversation-like manner
with lots of room for feedback front the
children.
To the tunes of children's favorites
such as "Here We Go Round the Mul-
berry Bush" the students first copied,
then tried their hands at making num-
erals. "Half around and then straight
back." Presto, the numeral 2 is made.
"Words give the children the concept
they need," she said.
For the past 20 years Dr. Heard has
trained pre-service and in-service teach-
ers of elementary school mathematics.
She has had 33 years of teaching ex-
perience, published numerous magazine
articles and written textbooks. Her mes-
sage is simple: children learn at differ-
ent rates, through direct experiences and
discovery. They don't all learn in the
same way and therefore her class has a
flexible syllabus and a time-schedule.
The atmosphere is one of unhurried
learning. Most of all, the learning is
enjoyable.
Hard-core Resistance
Smoke Signals Adrift
By RANDY CAMERON
As J. D. Salinger's Holden Caufield
would put it, "I smoke quite frequently;
I really do."
Well, I do, too, Holden, and, like most
people, I wonder from time to time if
it's a wise thing to do. Actually, I don't
really wonder. I know it's not such a
swift habit, and no matter how hard I
rationalize I know it can't do me any
good.
But most smokers
are like that. They
are not victims of
ignorance. Par from
it. They are well
aware of the perils
involved but contin-
ue to smoke in spite
of them.
I think this is the
reason that all the
nons mukera and
medical people are having such a tough
time in convincing us hard core smokers
to stop. Their recent TV campaigns are
well done and impressive, but they have
little effect on jfuys like me. All this
TV stuff has done is force the chickens
to quit smoking. They need something
that will get through to the brave and
stupid people like me.
CAMERON
I have a friend who smokes and
doesn't worry about cancer at all. His
reasoning is simple if not completely
logical. "By the time I get cancer they
will have a cure for it," he says.
So what are the medical cats going
to do with guys like us? We watch all
the nonsmoking bits on TV and say,
"Hey, man, thats cool. It's well done.
Give me a light, baby."
Hut at long last there is a chance
that an angle has been found to get
even the hard-core smokers to quit. Mrs.
Helen Hill of the health department
visited the campus recently and lectured
on the dangers of smoking. Mrs. Hill
noted that filters on cigarettes some-
times cause people to puff so hard that
they develop hernias.
Now there's a real reason to quit
smoking! Cancer is bad and all that, but
a hernia will cause everyone to recoil.
If the TV people would hit that angle
it might cause all of us to kick the habit.
, As a matter of fact, Mrs. Hill's com-
ment has already got me to thinking.
I'm going to quit someday of course
just like you. Sure I smoked three cig-
arettes while I was writing this column,
but I puffed just as easy as I possibly
could one each and every drag.
The Campus Chat
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Reality in Learning
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Bryan S*«ur . tier research project, aimed at giving kindergarten children a haad
start on the educational process, was financed by a $3,450 research grant last summer.
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Cameron, Randy. The Campus Chat (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 51, No. 64, Ed. 1 Friday, August 9, 1968, newspaper, August 9, 1968; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth307430/m1/2/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.