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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 1989)
Ip"!!! DIRECTIONS New Attitude PARKSIDE MEDICAL SERVICES and the TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR DRUG PREVENTION AND EDUCATION INVITE YOU TO A SPECIAL PRESENTATION WITH CHARLES SIMCIK, M.ED, LPC, CADAC & GEORGE JOSEPH, CADAC ON COCAINE AND CRACK FEBRUARY 8, 1989 3:00 A.M. TO 4:30 P.M. RUDDER TOWER, RM 601 TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL 845-0280. difference, professors sa; By Melissa Naumann REPORTER & LADIES & LORDS 5th ANNIVERSARY SALE! 15 to 50 Percent Off! □ Bridal Gowns and Bridesmaid Dresses □ Formals and Party Dresses from $39.95 □ Tuxedos from $99.95* • Tie/Cumberbund Sets from $15.95 • Tuxedo Shirts from $15.95 HURRY! - Sale Ends February 28th Group Rates Available We Guarantee to Beat the Competition’s Prices on identical Merchandise! 'Where looking good is stylishly affordable' ‘Pre-rented Garments 707 TEXAS AVEUE- COLLEGE STATION 764-8289 Next to Taco Cabana Pretend it’s the end of the semester and, for once, the teacher has ended class early, only to hand out teacher evaluations. Is it worth it to stay and complete the form? Although students, instructors and department heads have mixed emotions about the value of these mandatory evaluations, the general reaction is positive. Dr. Paul Busch, head of the marketing department, said the rumor that the evaluations get ignored is a fal lacy. “We do take them seriously in the department,” Busch said. “If students want to say positive things they can say them, and if there’s a problem it’s the perfect opportunity to bring it out.” Busch said the evaluations are vital for rectifying problems. “If there are problems, I look for patterns,” he said. “If there’s an issue, I sit down with the instructor and talk to him.” Laurie Bolt, a junior marketing major from Dallas, said while some teachers may be willing to change, she rarely sees evidence that they do. “When someone after me has the same teacher I had, I ask to see if they’ve changed things and they usually haven’t,” she said. “It’s pretty disappointing.” Dr. Leslie Marenchin, a visiting assistant professor in the philosophy department, said the evaluations are not helpful. “Every once in a while, I’ll get some suggestion that will help,” Marenchin said. “But in four years, that’s happened maybe two or three times. Even when they give a good suggestion, it was already something I had an inkling of. They just corroborated it.” Dr. Bob Gillette, a professor in the economics depart ment, said the evaluations have caused him to change textbooks. He said they help with improving things other than tangible teaching techniques. “I’ll get some people that will slaughter me, and; means one of two things,” Gillette said. “Either didn’t jive with that person or I was too harsh attii The teacher evaluations help me balance out myn live approach and my negative approach.” In the oceanography department, the evaluation! conducted by the Oceanography Graduate Council made into booklets for the entire faculty to review. “We try to weed out the ineffective teachers," Dr, bert Roe, head of the oceanography department,!; “It may not be 100 percent effective, but if you loo our evaluations from three or four years ago, our dents like the teachers better now.” One problem with the evaluations, however,is dent apathy, Busch said. “I’d like to see more participation from students said. “I hear from faculty members that often stude are in class when the teachers give the evaluations,! they don’t fill them out.” The effort put into the evaluations frequently pends on the quality of the instructor. “How much I put into it depends on what I thinl the teacher,” Leslie Lam, a junior marketing mi from Houston, said. “If it’s a bad teacher, I putaloi thought and time into the evaluation.” Busch and Roe agree that the student input affe the instructors’ f utures. “Teaching evaluation is a part of a faculty memlit overall evaluation,” Busch said. “It does have an imp on salary and eventually on tenure or promotion someone’s not doing well in student evaluations, we going to hesitate in tenuring that person.” The evaluations also play a major role when ments consider salary increases and who will teachhe ors classes. “It is a general indicator of how you’ve done'( lette said. “Remembering the lowest scoring evaluatis I’ve ever gotten, I can concur that that’s the worst mester I’ve ever had.” Researcher: Computers help rather than hurt in teaching kids math By Kelly S. Brown STAFF WRITER J A Great Cup of Tea! Or cherry coke, limeade, root beer, pink lemonade & many other fabulous fountain favorites. All 1/2 price Monday-Friday 3:30-4:30 College Station 104 University 696-6427 Bryan ^ > 914 S. Texas Ave 779-1085 Calculators and computers assist a child who is learning math, but many people still subscribe to the be lief that such devices will destroy a student’s ability to use paper and pencil. Helping to dispel the belief is Dr. Clarence Dock'tt'eiler, Lb-director of the Texas A&M Center for Math ematics and Science Education. “Research has shown that com puters and calculators are aiding in the students’ education, not hin dering it,” Dockweiler said. “They are just other tools in the education process — like a textbook.” The fact that calculators and com puters are advancing a student’s learning capabilities is somehow be ing overlooked in grade schools, Dockweiler said. “In all the results I’ve seen, using the calculator only improves the con- ceptional understanding, which is really what we’re worried about with the children,” he said. “Children will be much better prepared mathema tically if they consistently have some of the technological devices in their instruction.” The doubt is basically in the minds of the parents, as well as ad ministrators and the school board, and understandably so, Dockweiler said. “There’s a. general concern that once you put a machine in the hands of a child, everything else goes out the window,” he said. “I don’t be lieve that.” Dockweiler believes the comput ers and calculators serve as motiva tional devices. He said educators are pushing to have the machines in the classroom, while students are showing no signs of reluctancy in accepting them. Dockweiler said tne difficulty lies with fitting the machines into the curriculum.Teachers are accus tomed to teaching in one way and find it h?ird to adapt to the new tech nology. It’s also an adjustment for the par ents who might not have experience with computers. And even if they do they still wonder what is going on with their child in the classroom, Dockweiler said. In the classroom at A&M, educa tion students also are becoming ac quainted with some of the material on computers and the proper use of calculators. Dockweiler said in some cases stu dents are required to take a com puter literacy class before they get certified to teach. Getting the educators of tomor row involved with today’s technology is a step toward upgrading weak mathematic abilities in the United States, Dockweiler said. But he added that there is still work to be done. And studies. Dockweiler is currently involved in a study where 10 elementary school teachers are using calculators on a regular basis while the research ers are trying to measure the impact. “Basically, we’re trying to con vince everyone in the world that this is a good thing and we do need the machines,” Dockweiler said. It’s too early in the study to make any speculations on what the results will be. Man: Police reneged on reward offer DALLAS (AP) —DouglasDs l inger thought he was doineili right thing when he handed f lice S140,000 he found at work, Now he’s not so sure. Dearinger, 31, a haggagek dler at Love Field, found money on Dec. 28, 1987, inasu case that had fallen off a or When he turned the moneym to Dallas police, he was promis 10 percent of the money if ilw unclaimed, the Dallas Mornii News said. Ten months later, the city Dallas sent Dearinger a checkfi $4,300 — not the $14,000hew By A STAFF \N' Myster teaching dasses, bt found a use. Crumb countant ing prof 6 els to i principle But, m them, he' Cruml mate Rif just as a several p suit of th teaching ters pu Crumble publicatii He ha; accounth Golden S Using is super Crumble “Reset do reade shorter s pie wore also turn he s 10S, A scei characte in a part this seer what the perform uation, 1 “In ae late to fi packed ; are so a movies needs m pictures than gra alone.” Crum practice expecting. Dearinger told the Mornii News he feels cheated, but Dai police say he’s lucky. “There is no (legal) req* ment that he receive anythin police Capt. Doug Sword said, Dearinger said he’s not up* about turning in the S 139,7 but is bitter about the way thep: lice handled the matter. “I think they were very fair." The amount Dearingei didif ceive was the interest on pan the money in the Police Depan ment’s confiscated money fun Sword said. Dearinger said he found i money after the suitcase hadbtc run over by a luggage carl, picked the bag up and I was it specting it,” he said. “I pressedt ;;; it and all this money just kir popped out.” Part of the 10 percent going to go to charities, De ringer said. “God ,blessed me to find allti money, so I was going to some of it.” SENIO In search of& little advice? come to RSSRULT RLLIRRENESS R m basic self-defense techniques THURSDAY, FEBRURRY 9, 7 to 9 p.m. In the Commons Lounge TSO for contact lenses. Fifty years of experience is reflected in every pair we fit. After just one visit, it’s easy to see why a comfortable fit is synonymous with contact lenses from Texas State Optical. It starts with a wide selection.TSO offers one of the widest choices of hard and soft lenses available, so you not only get your prescription filled to the doctor's exact specifications, you also get the kind of fit and tomfort 50 years of experience 1 1 can offer. 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