I started teaching in 1985. My school, which was well-equipped in
physics hardware, also had a collection of Apple II machines. Before I
left that school (Henry Clay High School, Lexington, Kentucky), I
managed to assemble a "ragtag fugitive fleet" of Apple II machines -
everything from the Apple II+ to several Apple IIes and even a IIgs. (I
must confess that by 1990 I kept an Atari
1040ST on my own desk, because I liked the GUI much better than the
command line interface on the Apple IIs).
Let's consider what I could do then vs. what I do now.
Computer based data collection: Vernier software made a game
port interface that allowed us to connect various sensors and probes to
the Apple II. We used motion detectors and photogates to good effect
and got data just as usable and functionally identical to the data I
get today with my "fancy" USB interface connected to an iMac. I also
recall using temperature probes and light sensors. We had digital
oscilloscopes for showing the digital version of analog sound input.
Today I have more probes, such as radiation counters, pressure sensors,
and Hall effect magnetic field probes. The core of my physics program
could still be run off Apple IIs, though.
Lab reports: In both cases we used AppleWorks. However, the
AppleWorks on the Apple II wasn't quite as integrated. It still had
word processing and spreadsheet functions, but you couldn't embed one
in the other. On the other hand, I still get students who won't
copy a data table and/or graph from a data collection program and paste
it in a word processor. They are so bad about begging for scissors and
glue (this is high school, mind you) that I've taken to hiding the
scissors on lab day. There's not much lost there.
Presentations: We didn't do presentations with PowerPoint or
its equivalent; I didn't learn about that kind of software until I took
an extended break from teaching and worked in an office for a few
years. When students needed to see my screen, I just turned the monitor
around, although I did have an overhead transparency screen that
connected to my Apple II. Now I have a huge projector gizmo thing with
a bulb that's about to die. It looks better - when it has a bulb.
Databases: Didn't do much with them then; still don't. I
understand databases thoroughly and use them myself, but everything I
do with students seems so contrived that it just doesn't seem like it's
worth the effort. I don't believe in making up projects as an excuse
for using the computer.
Programming: I used to write elaborate programs in BASIC on
my Apple II and especially on my Atari; I even sold one to a magazine
and had a summer job programming an Atari 800. On my Mac, the closest
thing to programming I've done is building a fairly complex database
with FileMaker. I suppose I'm going to have to break down and learn
REALbasic one of these days.
::He sighs:: I sure miss HyperCard. It was great for a little quick
demo or simulation. Did you know there was HyperCard for the IIgs - and
that the IIgs used ADB peripherals?
Simulations: I wrote my own simulations in BASIC. Today,
there are lots of Java applets all over the place - just do a search.
Or buy a copy of Interactive Physics. Learning Java or REALbasic just
doesn't seem like its worth the effort for the little dink-oid programs
I want to write. I can't remember my new zip code, let alone all those
stupid keywords and grammar rules. Every time I download the free
REALbasic interpreter and try to slog through the tutorial, something
distracts me (like an accreditation review), and I can't make any
progress before my time limit expires. Don't forget: I'm a teacher
first, a hobbyist second. Sometimes, efficiency wins. Sometimes I use
Chipmunk Basic when I'm desperate and can't think of how to make
FileMaker or Excel generate the families of curves I want.
Attendance and Gradebooks: I've used electronic gradebooks
since 1986 and still do. Today, however, we can log attendance on our
school SASI server - and wait for the data to transmit at something
pretty close to 300 baud. I can almost type the data in faster than
SASI runs. The stupid thing is, we have to keep a paper gradebook
anyway. So instead of making life easier, now we have double work.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Internet: Everyone says they want to use the Internet for
research; what they really want is to use the Internet for plagiarism.
Okay, back then there was no Internet; I did connect to many BBSes
through a modem ("What's a BBS, Mr. Adkins?") including NASA SpaceLink. We did stuff like
tracking satellites with figures we got from NASA. That was fun. Today
we have a wealth of resources to which I occasionally refer when
teaching, and I do like posting my class information online. But it's
also true that 99% of the problems I have with my computers derives
directly from the networking issues I face in trying to overcome
Winertia. I've said more than once that if the networking issues become
any more acute, I'm going to go find my router and disconnect it from
the network so I can have AppleTalk back and get some work done. While
I'm ranting, consider this: When your students are researching. they
aren't creating. The research only backs up the creation of a new idea;
most students and a lot of teachers think that the research is an end
unto itself.
Movies: VHS vs. Digital. Well, digital looks nicer. But the
movies I got in the 80s had more content. They had to be thought out
better, I guess, because editing was so much a pain in the neck. All in
all, there's no contest; iMovie just rocks. It does. It's worth having
a Mac just to get iMovie. The potential is greater, I just need to work
harder to get students to express it.
So where does that leave us as Low End
Mac users? We pay a heavy price for the GUI we love. Macs are
certainly less stable than Apple IIs; on the other hand,
floppies are notoriously unreliable, and most of my carefully hoarded
Apple II stash has decayed beyond usefulness now.
If you were starting from scratch, you could go very low-end Mac
(I'm talking Mac SE here)
quite successfully, and you could use Apple IIs quite successfully as
far as the educational objectives go. You might be a bit cheaper with
the Apple IIs, but not by much. And think of the fact that with Apple
IIs you would never need to worry about proxy servers, changing DNS
addresses every third week, filtering content, or getting someone to
assign you IP addresses. The things are built like tanks; they run
forever - except for those gummed up floppy drives.
If I'm not careful I'll wind up talking myself into handing off my
lab to another teacher here at my school and dragging out the Apple
IIs.
is a longtime Mac user. He was using digital sensors on Apple II computers in the 1980's and has networked computers in his classroom since before the internet existed. In 2006 he was selected at the California Computer Using Educator's teacher of the year. His students have used NASA space probes and regularly participate in piloting new materials for NASA. He is the author of two books and numerous articles and scientific papers. He currently teaches astronomy and physics in California, where he lives with his twin sons, Jony and Ben.< And there's still a Mac G3 in his classroom which finds occasional use.