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in the Winn Dixie Center, College Station
Page 4
The Battalion
Thursday, February 9,1989
Giant sea turtles invade classroom
Programs for gifted, talented children try to draw out creativity
By Melissa Naumann
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REPORTER
A high school student wades
knee-deep in mud while a 3-year-old
moves around the room imitating a
giant sea turtle. Can this be educatio
nal?
Yes, it actually is. These are
glimpses into two summer programs
offered by Texas A&M’s Institute
for the Gifted and Talented.
The institute, in the educational
psychology department, provides
various programs for young people
as well as valuable research sources
for the department.
school students go to Texas A&M
University at Galveston.
They study various fields, includ
ing marine biology, space science
and archaeology. For two weeks, a
student explores a chosen field with
trips and lab activities as well as class
room instruction.
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Dr. William Nash, director of the
institute, said its goal is to encourage
creativity in students and in teaching
methods.
“Schools do a good job of teaching
facts, but don’t encourage thinking
skills,” he said. “When you get down
to it, our success in the world has
come from innovation and trying
new ideas,”
One program encouraging such
innovation is the Galveston Island
Adventure. Every summer, 240 high
The program allows students to
use a hands-on approach to learn
ing. Students studying marine bi
ology will wade in the salt marshes of
Galveston Bay and the space science
students will build and test models of
unusual aircraft.
Students participating in the Gal
veston Island Adventure have an op
portunity to interact with profes
sionals in their fields of expertise.
“We feel it’s particularly impor
tant for talented kids to work closely
with talented adults,” Nash said.
“Through the institute, we’ve been
able to arrange for kids to have op
portunities and connections with
some unique adults.”
the Galveston Island Adventure was
not only the best summer his child
ever had, but probably the best ex
perience of her life,” Nash said.
Minds Alive is a program in
Bryan-College Station sponsored by
the institute. Twenty preschool chil
dren participate in the four-week
program that encourages children to
think creatively.
Starting early with gifted children
is the most important aspect of
Minds Alive, said Dr. Pat Alexander,
associate director of research for the
project.
sea animals,” Alexander said.“lm
creative movement exercise,
will try to move like a whaleorai
turtle and try to learn what ill
like to he that animal.”
Alexander said Minds Alive;
important to teachers as it is to
dents.
The reaction to the Galveston
program, which began in 1980, has
been overwhelmingly positive.
“One parent called to tell me that
“Gifted programs don’t exist until
a child’s way of learning is solid
ified,” Alexander said. “If we can
start early with them, when they go
to public schools, they will already
have an idea of how enriching and
exciting learning is.”
All activities in the Minds Alive
program are thematic and encour
age creativity by representing what
children are learning in multiple
ways. From drawing to telling stories
to creative movement, the children
focus on one topic.
“If the topic is sea animals, the
children do everything in relation to
“Teachers with years of presd)
experience walk out with nev
derstandings,” she said. “Whan
learning here is important also
cause we will be sharing it withot
school districts.”
The institute also sponsors
Young Scholars Lecture Sr
which brings gifted high schoo
niors to A&rM for five Fridas
sions.
The series focuses on topics
tended to spark interest in
students such as futurism and!
nosis.
on the primary goal o
children and their way of
A sign on Alexander's v
inforces this idea: '‘Childrenare
things to be molded butpeoplen
unfolded.”
Professor: Industry needs skilled writer ct u
inti
By Juliette Rizzo
STAFF WRITER
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The demand for technical writers parallels the
increase in high technological industry in Texas,
says Texas A&M’s technical writing course chair
man.
Dr. Elizabeth Tebeaux, associate professor of
English responsible for the technical writing
course, says that Texas is attempting to attract
high-tech firms by offering a financial environ
ment conducive to establishing innovative high-
tech businesses.
Because T exas does not have a corporate in
come tax, more businesses are interested in locat
ing within the state.
Tebeaux said this is good not only for the state
but for the state’s job market as well.
“The high-tech industry saved the east coast
when the financial bottom fell out 12 years ago,”
she says. “Many jobs were created in technical
areas. There was a big demand for technical writ
ers to support the industry.”
In the same way, Texas can no longer depend
on the oil industry the way it did years ago, she
says.
To fill the gap created by the fall of the oil in
dustry, Texas is trying to attract more high-tech
businesses to provide more jobs.
Warped
OH, GREAT,
OWE OF YOU,
SCRIPTS
WHAT ROD
Waldo
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AMERICAN JUI
“More high-tech corporations mean more
technical writing jobs,” Tebeaux says. “The de
mand for graduates in the field of technical writ
ing and communication will increase, and if you
are going to work around businessmen, you bet
ter know their language.”
The A&M English department offers students
the opportunity to pursue a career in technical
communication by opting for a major in English
with a minor in rhetoric. A bachelor of art’s de
gree with a rhetoric option is under consider
ation.
writing course and a technical editing com
Tebeaux says. “We do not offer studentsa
ter’s of technical communication, but we
enough courses to get a student started in
field. We are more committed to die traditk
study of literature.”
Tebeaux says students choosing to pttraieii
field need to get a rich background in com
other than English.
“Writing courses are not enough,” shea
“You’ve got to have a strong background notp
in the traditional liberal arts but in computers
ence, statistics, science and mat!
By Juliette F
Many companies look for in-house techii
specialists. A student with a wide varietv
knowledge in different fields has a better chit
of getting a good technical position.
“We require the students to take a technical
for example, she says, a student at A&M
a degree in electrical engineering took two is
nical writing courses and received nine
fers.
■ EE'n
Financing Available
DOUGLAS
Group holds contest to beautify freeway
JE WELERS By Ashley A. Bailey
Culpepper Plaza
693-0677
STAFF WRITER
M'
jf 4r
€
-OWN II IIAIL!
Welcomes
RCA/NOVUS RECORDING ARTIST
NEW AGE PIANIST
St. Valentines Day
Tuesday, February 14
Rudder Theatre
8:00 P.M.
Tickets $6.00
Tickets Available At MSC Box Office
For More Information Call 845-1234
Few people consider freeways vi
sually pleasing or artistic. But a
group of Texas A&M landscape ar
chitects hopes to change that
through their national design com
petition, which uses a high-volume
section of Houston freeway as a can
vas.
Dr. Harlow Landphair, an A&M
landscape architecture professpr,
said that although most freeway in
terchanges in Houston are larger
than the buildings, less time and
money are spent on the roadways.
“No other place is seen by more
people in a single day than the free
way,” Landphair said. “The freeway
and its attendant structures are a
major part of the urban visual fabric,
and they consume as much as 10
percent of the land in a metropolitan
area.
The competition is funded by a
grant from the National Endowment
for the Arts.
Since the announcement of the
contest in the fall, more than 100
professionals have entered the com
petition, sponsored by the State De
partment of Highways and Public
Transportation and the NEA. The
competition is for design and visual
arts professionals working in collab
orative teams, Landphair said.
“For all the impact of the freeway
on our daily journeys in and about
an urban area, we have done little to
explore the visual character and
quality of these spaces,” he said. “De
signs submitted also must consider
safety and utility because the suc
cessful solution (the winner) will be
implemented.”
Landphair said that of all the
structures in an urban setting, the
freeway is probably the single most
important structure in providing a
sense of direction and orientation to
the residents,
The freeway at the center of the
competition is the interchange at
Loop 610 and Interstate 45 (Gulf
Freeway) in southeast Houston. This
interchange is composed of ramps,
bridges and open right-of-way
spaces, and covers about 60 acres.
This size and composition is typ
ical of about 25 such interchanges in
the city’s expanding freeway system,
Landphair said.
The competition is an outgrowth
of the highway department program
that sets aside one percent pi t,a
construction funds for landscape
velopment, he said. It is an atteni}
to do something unique, he added
Entries have been received fra
as far away as New York, Cani
and Mexico. The winner will belt
nounced March 16.
(flash prizes to die winners wiUk
$10,000 for first place, $5,0f
second place and $2,000 for
In addition, $15,000 will com[
sate the winners for the preparatie
of final construction documents,
Witness for prosecution
testifies in third trial
of San Diego rape case
EDINBURG (AP) — A prosecu
tion witness testified Wednesday
that the third man to go on trial in a
reported gang rape struck the
woman while sexually assaulting her
on the hood of a car north of the
South Texas city of San Diego.
The first day of testimony began
Wednesday in the sexual assault trial
of Roberto Perez, 26, who is among
10 men and a 14-year-old boy in
dicted in the case last April.
“He hit her on the side of the
face,” Jose Carlos Briones said of
Perez.
Briones, the first prosecution wit
ness, testified before a Hidalgo
County jury of six men and six
women that he saw Perez raping the
woman while other men held her
down, and that “she was com
plaining.”
“I did see him there ... on top of
the hood” with her, said Briones, 29,
who also faces a sexual assault
charge in the case.
A 13-year-old boy testified later
Wednesday that he never saw Perez
strike the woman, but that Perez and
others raped her on the car while
men held her, and, “She was crying.”
Briones and the boy testified in
trials in September and January in
which two of Perez’ co-defendants
were convicted. Prosecution testi
mony in Perez’ trial will continue
Thursday morning.
The woman has told authorities
that she was abducted while walking
a short distance home from a rela
tive’s house in San Diego the night of
last March 26 and taken to a ranch
where men were gathered for a
cockfight north of the Duval County
city. She said she was raped and so
domized repeatedly there and at two
other locations by as many as 20
men.
Briones admitted trying to assault
the woman, but said he had drunk
two cases of beer that day and was
unable, then tried to stop the other
men, one of whom sexually as
saulted her with a beer bottle.
He said he later caught a ride
home from the ranch in another car,
and saw Perez, who also was in the
car, force the woman to perform a
sexual act before Briones was
dropped off in San Diego.
Asked who put her into the car,
Briones pointed at Perez and said,
“That man right there.”
Briones denied telling a Corpus
Christi psychiatrist last summer dur
ing a court-ordered competency ex
amination that “she liked it,” as is
written in the clinical report.
Perez also faces two aggravated
kidnapping charges in connectiorr
with the incident, and is accused of
sexually assaulting the woman at two
other locations in addition to the
ranch.
The first two men tried in the case
were found guilty in the 229th Dis
trict Court in San Diego.
What’sUp
Thursday
A Texas
UCLA Seme
f conducted b
Information
Sherri Scl
bibliography
was surprise
lected.
“I feel hoi
fabulous op]
about the c
around the v
Senior Fe
plications an
Schimdt s
MSC OPAS: will present the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-fields at 8 p.m.in
Rudder Auditorium.
LATIN AMERICAN CATHOLIC STUDENTS: will have a weekly meeting at8:3«
p.m. at St. Mary’s Student Center.
MID-COUNTRY HOMETOWN CLUB: will meet at 7 p.m. in 111 Blocker.
AGGIE BLOOD DRIVE COMMITTEE: The Central Texas Red Cross blow
drive will be from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. at Rudder and from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. at
Commons.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FORUM: Dr. Wesley Peterson will presen!
“Environmental Destruction and Economic Development” at 7 p.m. in 103 Het
man Heep.
S.W.A.P.: will reflect on Christianity and other cult religions at 8:30 p.m. in
Rudder.
UPSILON PI EPSILON: will meet at 7 p.m. in 127 Zachry.
NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS: will meet at 8:30 p.m. Call the C.D.P.E. at 845-
0280 for details.
ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS: will have a general discussion at 6 p.m
Call the C.D.P.E. for more details.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: will meet at noon. Call the C.D.P.E. at845-t
for more details.
CENTER FOR DRUG PREVENTION AND EDUCATION: will present the game
show “Drug Control” as part of drug awareness week at noon in the MSC (lag-
room.
RECREATIONAL SPORTS: will have a swim meet information meeting ai
p.m. in 167 Read and a wallyball team captain’s meeting at 5 p.m. in 167 Read
There will also be registration in 159 Read for archery doubles, a backpacking
trip, softball, preseason softball tournament, free throw shooting contest, a rock
climbing clinic and a spring break rafting/kayaking trip.
Friday
CAMPUS CRUSADE FOR CHRIST: will have Friday Night Alive in 108 Harring
ton.
CATHOLIC STUDENT CENTER: will present stations of the Cross at 7:30p.m.
at St. Mary’s Church.
MELTING POT: will have an informal get-together for international students at?
p.m. at St. Mary’s Student Center.
AGGIE BLOOD DRIVE: The Central Texas Red Cross will have a blood drive
from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. at Rudder and from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. at the Commons.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS: will meet at noon. Call the C.D.P.E. at 845
for details.
JUNGIAN SOCIETY OF THE BRAZOS VALLEY: Dr. Jim Barnett will present
“The Psychological Need for Initiation of Manhood” at 7:30 p.m. in 601 Rudder.
PARENT’S WEEKEND COMMITTEE: Parents of the Year applications are due
Feb. 10 in 221 Pavilion.
SCONA: will present speeches and group discussions on "Japan: The Powerol
a Changing Economy,” in Rudder through Saturday.
Wems for What’s Up should be submitted to The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald,
no later than three business days before the desired run date. We only publish
the name and phone number of the contact if you ask us to do so. What's Up is
a Battalion service that lists non-profit events and activities. Submissions are nit
on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no guarantee an entry will run. IIyou
have questions, call the newsroom at 845-3315.
STAFF WRITI
Texas A&f
Student Oriei
by students f(
time in its thi
conference w
Aug. 25-26.
Anna Ort
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By Mia B.
REPORTER
Offic
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lawyers are
grants apply
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nesty law, an
“Some pc
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■