European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 29, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 6 the stars and stripes saturday december 29,1990 Rode 11 Tompkins uses laser videodiscs and television to help teach her fourth Grade class in Houston comes Houston a a fourth Grade class was studying electricity and the image of a lightning Bolt was Frozen on the to screen. Then teacher Rodelle Tompkins touched the Remote control and zapped the Bolt to life and her science class was off on an energetic discussion. It was just the sort of reaction educators Hope videodisc textbooks will create especially in subjects such As science. A a it a More funner sic than Reading a Book a said Nathan Young. A a it a easier a there a no Reading and writing a said classmate Marlin Manilla. Laser videodisc textbooks have been in use in an estimated 7,0 10 . Schools but Texas is the first slate to allow districts to use textbook Money to buy them. A the 12-Inch discs resemble the smaller compact discs used for music. The discs Cun show still and moving pictures on a television screen without having to close window shades and turn out lights. The discs also provide higher Quality sound and image than videotape allow the use of freeze Frame a like the lightning Bolt without loss of detail and can hold information equivalent to 54,000 photographic slides Oil each Side. Tompkins says the videodiscs provide More infer mat Ion by exciting a greater portion Oft he class. And she says they re better than movies. A when you turn off the lights to show a movie the Bottom 3 percent of the class goes to sleep an the top 5 percent have already seen it a she said. Hut a noisy minority of Tompkins pupils at Lam Kin Lic Mcnary so Uiol prefer Curling up with an old fashioned Book to watching their science project go by at mtg Speed. A a it a better to learn when you read by yourself a said Colleen Wade and Brian Bassi added a i done to like it that much. 1 think Reading is better than just watching and /. A a. A a a a 1 a. A reaching kids is an extra big problem in science teaching these Days a said Phyllis Marcuccio assist ant executive director of title National science teachers association in Washington. A the volume of scientific information is so much greater these Days its hard to get across in books a Marcuccio said adding that videodiscs also allow children to Sec people working which could a open up career dimensions for the videodisc program window s on science produced by optical data corp. Of Warren . Comes with a suggested script for teachers and workbooks for the students. V one laser disc program costs about $1,000, but that s considered comparable to textbooks for a class because of the amount of data each one provides and the fact that it can be used Over and Over. Although optical data so windows on science program which teaches biology geology and elementary physics is the Only approved electronic textbook in Texas other programs in social studies and health Are becoming popular said optical data spokeswoman Pam Herber. Those programs include a history through Geog Raphy program similar to National geographic television shows and a program partly produced by Abc news on current events such As the. Middle last the 1988 presidential Campaign and aids. Although some pupils May still prefer books educators say. That teaching science a electronically can increase the number of video general Ion children turned on by once unapproachable subjects. A just because he can to read does no to mean he can to think Quot Tompkins said. A a stateside Sierra club chief named to California Cabinet Sacramento Calil a Pete Wilson has named a former executive director of the Sierra club to be his Cabinet Secretary in charge of All state water Parks fish and game and wildlife agencies. A Douglas Wheeler 48, currently the executive vice president of the Washington world wildlife bund and conservation foundation has been named Secretary of the state resources Agency. The Republican governor elect said his appointment of Wheeler a makes Good on one of my Campaign promises. To very vigorously pursue the preservation of our physical environment.�?�. 1beer sales in . This year expected to set record san Francisco apr sales of Beer by far the most popular alcoholic beverage in the nation Are projected to Rise 2.3 percent for a record 190 million barrels this year a Trade journal has reported a five of the top 10 brands Are expected to Post advances in 1990, collectively recording a projected gain of 1 2 percent to 130.8 million barrels a said the wine spirits and Beer industries tracker Impact As usual Anh Cusco Busch inc., the worlds largest Hewer leads the Domestic Market. With projected shipments of 84 million 31-gallon barrels this year Budweis or and its a a siblings will Post 43.7 percent of Market share said the publication. Miller brewing is second Best in Market share with an anticipated 22.1 percent Coors brewing co., 9,9 percent Stroh brewery co., 8.0 percent and g. Heileman brewing co., 6.1 percent. Hincken continues the to Selling imported Beer. None of the figures includes sales of non alcoholic brews. 1. A a the final figures for the year could go even higher than expected said Impact owing to the wholesaler race to Stock up before the Rise in Federal excise taxes on beverage alcohol goes into effect. On Jan. 1, the excise tax on Beer will double to $18 a finds government erred in seizing building quota a a a a new York apr the government wrongfully seized a rental building where tenants dealt drugs because the landlords were not allowed to defend them selves against the action an appeals court has ruled. The seizure was carried out under a Federal civil forfeiture Law that allows prosecutors to take property used for narcotics activity. The 2nd . Circuit court of a judge improperly approved the seizure based Only on a finding that the owners Harvey and Helen Lehrer were aware tenants dealt drugs in the Brooklyn building. The forfeiture Law adopted by Congress in 1988, in eludes a clause designed to protect landlords. It states that the government cannot seize buildings if the owners can prove they had no knowledge of drug activity or that they made a reasonable efforts to prevent illegal use Oft heir property. The court said the couple did no to get the Chance to show they took Steps to curtail drug activity. The appeals court reversed an order approving the seizure and sent the. Case Buck to . District judge Thomas Platt to allow the Leuers to further defend themselves against the forfeiture. A a. Bench Mhz said the building has been sealed and vacant since the raid. A a. Chicago a seventy five percent of adults in a Survey say americans should Volunteer to help the less fortunate but few follow through and Many shy away from helping the homeless poor and ill the study found. Three quarters of the 1,000 people who responded to the random Telephone Survey said they would like to Volunteer to help the less fortunate but Are too Busy said Donald in banker a vice president at Lions club International which commissioned the study. The Lions club claims to be the world s largest service organization with nearly j,4 million members in 171 countries. A a we re concerned about the Lack of participation in our association by the younger generation a banker said thursday. A there seems to be a hesitancy to get one percent of the respondents said they would rather donate Money than Volunteer their time. The Survey Eon ducted last Spring questioned people Ages 25 to 40, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage Points. The Survey found that among the respondents who said they had performed any Volunteer work including helping at Church or school Many shied away from Long term commitments. Eighteen percent of volunteers said they spent time with children compared with 5 percent with the homeless and 4 percent with people with mental disabilities or cancer. Twelve percent of vol uni cars said they worked with people with physical disabilities. A children Are always no. I because volunteers can make an immediate difference there Quot said Jean Davis a spokeswoman for the Midwest regional office of the salvation army in Chicago. A with the homeless it takes a numb mental Effort to make a change. Sometimes you can to solve the problem and its frustrating a she said. John Donahue executive director of the Chicago coalition for the homeless said americans should give More time to Volunteer efforts. Quot to really resolve the problem nation ally people have to make the commitment rearrange their priorities a Donahue said. Quot a. The Washington d National coalition for the homeless estimates 3 million homeless people live in the United states Donahue said. Davis said the salvation army takes any help it can get and designs its Volunteer programs to accommodate Peoples hectic schedules. A we done to really have any problems getting people to Volunteer so Long As we keep it Short term a Davis said. A we have always had Short term projects where a person does not need to commit or two years. They can take on one a 1 a or visit one Home a
