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Hp BTexas A&.M
ine
talion
Serving the University community
ol, 76 No. 180 USPS 045360 8 Pages
College Station, Texas
Tuesday, August 2, 1983
>ut no one
11 hen ny auk
tangs totwoi
tal ranking;
&M tries to keep pace
ith technological trend
by Tim Widdison
rmting Loul
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iteve Besselman of Houston will be gazing
tard topile»;gtently at the front of the Academic
hckersonandhiilding for about the next two months.
abbingthe
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Battalion Reporter
s geared foi Students someday may earn a de-
ms haveago«K at T exas a&M without setting
it’s difficultrf®) n campus.
°ns recruiti Instead, they will take coursework
ers atothti home through computer prog-
\ir Force Crl'This may be just one of the influ
xes technology will have on educa-
country whotP' n,; he future, Dr. Charles Pinnell,
>aid “His akiV ate d e P ut y chancellor for en-
ikenusfroniW r ' n S at Texas A&M, said
, n y >> hursday.
Louthan. “ft “Universities will have to pay atten-
)d runner i )n ’ ‘ n m y 0 pi n i° n » to this area,” Pin-
d offense foifK sa 'T
Children who are learning by com-
iplishmentsoi*g r j n secondary schools and come
oer of runni«||T exas a&M or other universities
ne more seitf l a college education will expect
mething more than what universi-
Kjprovide today, Pinnell said. The
"‘inputer age generation will expect a
ffiputerized college education, he
lid.
ilp 13l'f'B esearC ^ 1 ' nto us ' n & new technolo-
•IC LakC§si ne{ j ucat i on j s a l r eady underway.
i i v-j rrp lykdeotape has been used for some
)llingCme at several universities, Pinnell
i M although Lexas A&M has not
C L GOWBl it extensively. A national consor-
B of universities is developing a
brary of videotapes for educational
'poses, he said.
Press Internal
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A major disadvantage of
videotapes is that they provide only a
programmed lecture without any stu
dent-teacher interaction, Pinnell said.
Computer-assisted training prog
rams are another effect of technology
on education.
Texas A&M currently is using a
program called PLATO, he said.
The Programmed Logic for Auto
mated Teaching Operations was de
signed at the University of Illinois in
the late 1960s. The system is now op
erated and marketed by Control Data
Corporation out of Minneapolis.
PLATO is an interactive program
using touch sensitive screens on
videoterminals, Pinnell said. The sys
tem can be hooked up to the main
office in Minneapolis to obtain a wide
variety of programs, he said.
Advantages of PLATO include
providing a self-directed education
for students and interaction with the
program. It is flexible enough to
allow students to learn at their own
pace, Pinnell said, and also can
answer questions.
PLATO can be used for vocational
training, Pinnell said. For example,
American Airlines uses the touch sen
sitive screens for a program on how to
start jet engines, he said.
The major disadvantage of PLA
TO is a shortage of software prog
rams now available, Pinnell said. Cur
rently, it is a time consuming process
to design the programs, he said.
A test project starting in September
will examine the influence of PLATO
as a supplementary educational tool
in a few selected math and English
courses, Pinnell said. The selected
classes will then be compared with
classes not using the computer prog
ram to determine how helpful the
program is.
What all this means for the future
of education is still speculation, Pin
nell said, and long range results may
not appear for 10 to 20 years.
The effects on the student may be a
more intense, faster paced education
than what exists today, Pinnell said.
Students will learn when, where and
what they want, he said.
Teachers may have a chance to
teach students on a more personal
basis, he said. They will be able to
teach 100 to 150 students on a person
al basis, he said.
Computer programs also will re
place textbooks on college students’
shelves, he said.
Of course, some personal guidance
for particular students still will be
necessary, Pinnell said, and not all
courses can be taught by computer.
Questions involving judgmental or
philosophical aspects of a course still
should be handled through teacher-
student discussion, he said.
After all, no program can contain
all the answers to all the questions,
Pinnell said.
inside
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ist of the
forecast
rtly cloudy skies today with a
e happy coiffigh of 95 and a 20 percent chance
v divers fom'JTisolated thundershowers. The
ssed spearf |' v tonight near 73. Partly cloudy
under as 20llfednesday with a 20 percent
s on shore fhance of showers and a high near
beach cher^B-
Shuttle rollout
gets late start
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The
shuttle Challenger slowly made its
SVk-mile journey early today to the
oceanside launch pad at the Kennedy
Space Center, where officials will pre
pare it for its third blastoff.
Stacked atop a giant land crawler,
the shuttle was scheduled to move at
midnight but was delayed 19 minutes
because of problems with the internal
communications system, space center
official Dick Young said.
The land crawler crept along at 1
mph on its seven-hour trip through
darkness with its 12 million-pound
load, he said.
The Challenger’s five-man crew
will have a “dress rehearsal” for
launch Thursday in preparaton fo
the Aug. 30 trip into space.
The Challenger’s third journey
into space had been scheduled for
Aug. 20 but problems developed test
ing a data relay satellite that will be
used during the mission and the
launch had to be pushed back by 10
days.
The spaceplane is scheduled to
blast off at 1:15 a.m. — the first night
launch in the shuttle program — and
is slated to land at 2:45 a.m. Sept. 4 at
Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
Congressional panel
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon
will be able to produce nerve gas for
the first time in 14 years under an
agreement reached by Senate and
House conferees working on a $200
billion military spending bill.
A congressional source said Mon
day the negotiators agreed in a closed
session to lift the moratorium on
nerve gas production on the condi
tion that one old nerve gas weapon be
destroyed for each new one made.
The conferees are expected to
meet all week to resolve remaining
differences in the overall legislation,
and it is still possible the agreement
over nerve gas could be changed be
fore the final bill is sent to the full
gallery trains
simulation
Mobile
by fire
by Karen Schrimsher
Battalion Staff
Texas A&M fire fighting students
Can train in a situation similar to that
of a real house fire, thanks to the loan
of a mobile training gallery by the
National Draeger, Inc.
The company loaned the $ 100,000
worth of equipment to the Oil and
Hazardous Material Control division
of the Texas Engineering Extension
Service.
The gallery will be on loan for an
indefinite period because Texas
A&M is considered the foremost fire
training school in the country, said
Draeger sales manager David W.
Thomas.
The gallery is composed of three
rooms: the control room, the exercise
room and the training room.
The control room is a small cubicle
where the training sessions are con
trolled and viewed by the use of televi
sion monitors. Infrared lights allow
the controller to see the action inside
the training room even when the
training session is held in total dark
ness and the entire session may be
recorded on a video recorder.
The exercise room contains a
weight pulley and a laddermill. The
weight pulley consists of a rope with a
handle and a weight attached at the
opposite end. While wearing brea
thing apparatus, trainees are re
quired to complete a specific number
of cycles on the weight pulley.
Climbing on the laddermill causes
the rungs to move in a downward di
rection. The climbing speed and the
total distance are adjusted on the con
trol panel.
In the training room, a maze is set
for trainees. The maze itself is made
of screened side panels and particle
board floor panels and is three tiers
high. The modular componentsof the
maze may be rearranged to produce
different patterns and degrees of dif
ficulty.
The atmospheric conditions, such
as heat, smoke and darkness are con
trolled and used to make the course
more difficult. The training room can
be heated by three 2,000 watt heaters
to simulate the hot environment en
countered in a burning structure.
Tom DeLallo, the designer and
builder of the gallery, said the gallery
does not need to be heated here be
cause it is hot enough in Texas.
A smoke generator uses an electric
ally-heated head and carbon dioxide
gas smoke by atomizing a special
fluid. An irritating gas containing
amyl acitate also can be used in the
training room.
Obstacles such as tunnels and
hatches, and fire sounds such as
screams and sirens are used to create
anxiety and stress. The training room
is used for improving orientation,
practicing maneuvers and sharpen
ing reactions with the use of a brea
thing apparatus under conditions
similar to those encountered in real
life.
U.S.
Stone returns to
United Press International
U.S. special envoy Richard Stone
returned to Washington today after a
two-week tour in Central America,
saying his first meeting with a rebel
chief from El Salvador was followed
by “very useful” talks with Nicara
guan leaders.
In Honduras, President Roberto
Suazo Cordova was hospitalized for
what government officials termed a
routine medical check-up. Sources
outside the government said he had
suffered a heart attack.
Stone’s plane set down at Andrews
Air Force Base in Maryland at 12:20
a.m.. Earlier, he wrapped up his trip
by meeting for two hours Monday
with Nicaraguan Foreign Minister
Miguel d’Escoto, junta leader Daniel
Ortega and the head of the Foreign
Ministry’s department on U.S. rela
tions, Saul Arana.
“The Nicaraguan leaders inter
preted my visit in a very useful man
ner and turned my desire to visit
Nicaragua into an invitation,” Stone
said before leaving Managua Airport.
“I can only tell you the talks were very
useful.”
Nicaragua’s Sandinista rulers were
expected to comment today on
Stone’s visit, his first since President
Reagan sent an aircraft carrier battle
group to Nicaragua’s Pacific coast and
organized maneuvers involving up to
4,000 American troops in neighbor
ing Honduras.
Stone also voiced optimism about
his meeting last Sunday in Bogota,
Colombia with Ruben Zamora, a lead
er of the Salvadoran guerrillas’ poli
tical arm, the Democratic Revolution
ary Front.
photo by Sally Schwierzke
Shake it up
Tyler Nilson, 2, of College Station cooled Bryan-College Station area has been
off Friday with a milkshake from the having, the creamery has been doing a
creamery. With all the warm weather the booming business.
OKs nerve gas production
House and Senate.
If it does reach the floor of both
chambers, it is sure to face another
tough fight.
The House narrowly voted June 16
to continue the unilateral U.S. ban on
nerve gas production. On July 13, in a
dramatic vote that saw Vice President
George Bush break a 49-49 tie, the
Senate authorized resumption of
nerve gas production.
Rep. Ed Bethune, R-Ark, who has
consistently fought the plan in the
House, predicted it would be defe
ated again.
The conferees, working on a
spending bill of about $200 billion for
the 1984 Pentagon budget, accepted
the Senate language that prohibits
final assembly of the weapons before
Oct. 1, 1985, congressional sources
said. It also would require presiden
tial certification that such production
is in the national interest.
The United States and the Soviet
Union are signatories to a 1925 pro
tocol that outlaws first use of chemical
weapons, but both sides have stock
piles and defensive equipment in case
the other party breaks the treaty.