Computer Arts Course for Secondary Schools

Leonurdo, Vol. 4, p. 363. Pergamon Press 1971. Printed in GreatBritain COMPUTER ARTS COURSE FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS J. J. Turnbull” There has been a rapid increase in the involvement of schools in computer education during the last few years. In order to support this in the United Kingdom, the National Computing Centre Limited (NCC) has developed a teaching package entitled ‘Computers and their Impact on Business and Society’. The NCC package includes teachers’ notes, overhead projector transparencies and class hand-out material for a senior students’ course in secondary schools. The course does not attempt to train students in computing but rather to make them appreciate the uses that can be made of digital computers. Of the 40 hours suggested, only 20 hours are devoted to the operation of the computer. The rest of the time is spent in studying the social implications of computers and their influence on a variety of subjects. It isfeltthat the schoolleaverof the presenttime should be awareof the possibleeffectsof the computer, such as the danger of the loss of privacy of the individual, of the advantages and the disadvantages of the expected increase of leisure time and of the changes inindustrial organizationand inworkingconditions. *Senior Consultant, Schools Education, The National Computing Centre Limited, Quay House, Quay Street, Manchester M3-3HU, Lancashire, England. (Received 27 May 1971.) Four study guides are provided for investigating the ways in which the computer is applied in the physical and biological sciences, language and literary studies, the social sciences and the fine arts. The guide called Computers in the Creative Arts is of particular interest. It was prepared for the National Computing Centre by the Computer Arts Society under the editorship of its Chairman, Alan Sutcliffe. The authors include John Lansdown, George Mallen and Michael Tompson. A variety of concepts taken from the arts is introduced. The application of the digital computer for the study of music includes composition, the synthesis of musical sounds and the control of electronic music equipment. Computer generated graphic design is approached through composites formed from basic modules and, in the literary arts, the computer is used to generate proverbs and poetry. It is interestingto seethe ways in which the various arts overlap . For example, modular construction isapparent in all the art forms, as is the use of randomness. Throughout the guide there are suggested activities that, although enhanced by access to a computer, may be undertaken with a few dice and a lot of patience. Further information may be obtained from the National Computing Centre. 363 ...