Feature
School Computer Assembly project proves an equal opportunity effort
By LINDA ZAPCZYNSKI Special to The Oakland Press
A group of eighth grade girls from Kingswood Secondary School in Bloomfield Hills have proven that computers are not just for boys.
The girls have even gone a step further and this year are using a personal computer they built themselves.
Located in the school's computer center. the handmade IBM personal computer clone is a reminder that building and repairing is both useful and rewarding.
The Cranbrook school project involved 48 seventh-grade girls, divided into four groups of 12. Parts were ordered and donated by Chuck Spriggs, of Farmington Hills, owner of Benchmark Systems, a small computer company.
Spriggs is a father of one of the girls in the project, supervised under the coordination of Sylvia Chang, a teacher at Kingswood. Chang instructed the students in the physical makeup of a computer to familiarize them with the parts and how they operate.
The students receive training in computers as part of the school curriculum. involving sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, said Chang. The computer class is held twice a week for 45 minutes and is limited to 12 students.
The computer was rebuilt four times, so everyone had hands-on experience." said Chang. It takes about an hour to assemble the computer, she said.
However, in three of the four assemblies, the computer didn't work, said Spriggs.
"But we found that it was better when there was something wrong, so they find the problem and find out it was easier than they thought," he said.
"A chance to work with hardware is rare," said Spriggs. "And rarely does a kid get the opportunity to actually tear something apart."
And it is unusual that girls were involved in such a project, said Chang, adding, "Without boys around, the girls felt free to express their interest."
"Girls don't usually get a chance to operate computers, as boys usually dominate them," said Spriggs.
The students installed the memory chips and processing chips into the mother board, hooked up the power supply, a hard disc drive, the controller cards, and mounted it into the case, said Chang.
"The computer has a flip top to view the interior of the computer," she said. "It is really a special computer to the students."
The computer cannot be used during class, though, because it is the only IBM clone available, and is different from computers in use, said Chang.
"But the girls bring in discs from home, and they are working with a print shop and computer languages such as BASIC and LOGO, which is a form of drawing" she said.
"And even some gaming is encouraged, as they learn how to load the programs and interact with the computer," she said.
Telecommunications, the use of the computer with a modem, which communicates with other systems, is being introduced in connection with the University of Michigan, said Chang.
"The eighth grade is active with teams there," she said.
The computer and civics class have blended to simulate a total of 11 countries, and no one knows which country is which, Chang said. The goal is to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in the Middle East.
The learning didn't stop in the classroom, said Spriggs.
"Some girls have added on to their family computers," he said. "The girls didn't have the phobia of opening up, like older people."
Spriggs summed up the purpose of building the computer, which was completed last May for use this year.
"We attempted to take away the concept of the computer as a magical box," Spriggs said. It's not magic, it's only understanding the parts."