Computer
Center
The Computer Center
was opened in September 1996. We occupy the entire top floor
of Building 1. The Center consists of three computer rooms. Computer
Rooms 1 & 2 have 50 Macinto
sh computers
each. They are for teaching pre-school, kindergarten and primary
students. The Multimedia Room is equipped with 45 PC computers,
tape cassette players, video players, t.v., slide projector and
overhead projectors. The latter room is also our Internet Center
with all computers on-line. This room is for teaching the secondary
school students computer studies and for teachers to use the
other equipment for special lessons.
Computer Studies is a compulsory subject
for everyone. Pre-School, Kindergarten and Primary students have
one 50 minute lesson a week. The Secondary students have two
50 minute lessons a week. In addition, the students sometimes
visit the Multimedia Room to have special lessons on the PC Computers.
For example: learning Religious Education, Social Studies, Music
or English.
Kindergarten students start
learning to use the computers as early as the age of three. They
start with the basics of using the mouse and keyboard and mastering
hand-eye co-ordination. Some of our favourite programs for this
are: My Very First Software, Jumpstart Toddlers and
Preschool Parade. We also use the Living Books series a lot.
Some of our favourites include: Just Grandma and Me,
Little Monster at School, Harry and the Haunted House,
Ruff's Bone and The Tortoise and the Hare. The students
also learn math with Math Rabbit and Turbo Math
and English with Ready for Letters and Reader Rabbit.
Jumpstart Preschool is also a very popular activity centre.
The Junior
Primary students learn math with Math Blaster
and Number Munchers, English with the Living Books
series, art with Art Center, science with The Science
House and problem solving with Thinking Things. We
also use a number of activity centres such as S.B. Learning,
The Playroom and Hello Kitty. The students also
learn how to type with Kid Keys and use a word processor
with Kid Works 2.
The Senior
Primary students have more serious programs to learn.
They begin with improving their English typing skills and then
move on to typing Thai which is far harder for them. This is
because there are 46 consonants and 15 vowels in the Thai language.
Claris Works is a very popular program with everyone at
the school. We use it to teach word processing, graphics, desktop
publishing, database and spreadsheets.
The Secondary
students learn most of their computer lessons on the PC.
They first have an introduction to Windows '98 and then
move on to learn about Microsoft Office 2000. They also
study multimedia and hypertext. The programs we use include:
The Digital Studio, Astound, Multimedia Studio
and Hyperstudio. The students also use Adobe Page Mill
and Microsoft Front Page to make their own homepages for
the internet. At school the students have use of digital cameras
and three scanners to help them create their projects.
The Computer
Rooms are open every lunch-break for the students to take
part in club activities and also to do school work. These range
from drawing pictures to designing business cards or birthday
cards. The students also type up their homework or write pen-friend
letters here. The Multimedia Room is open every day for the students
to access the internet or to look at CD-ROMs. There are 145 computers
available for the students to use at break times.
The Computer
Center is a very popular place for students to visit during lunch-times.
The following
are Club Days:
MONDAYS - Art Club is for students
wanting to try their hand at computer graphics or animation.
TUESDAYS - Chess Club. We use
two programs for the different kinds of chess. In Computer Room
2 there is the normal chess. In the Multimedia Room there is
Thai Chess. The students can also use the internet to play with
people in other countries around the world. During the year there
are two chess tournaments held for the students which are always
very popular.
WEDNESDAYS - Crossword Club. The
students use the computers to play scrabble against the computer
or with their friends. Every year the students take part in a
Crossword Competition.
THURSDAYS - The students have
an opportunity to learn a new program.
FRIDAYS - Computer Club is the
most popular organised activity in the school. Sometimes as many
as 150 senior students turn up to play the educational games
as well as some games which are purely fun.
The Multimedia
Room is open every lunchtime and afternoon break for the
students to use. There are videos to watch on the t.v., music
to listen to with headphones and multimedia CD-Rom's to look
at on the computers. The students can scan photos and make stickers or sing karaoke songs.
The students also access the internet every day on 45 computers.
Many of the students are using e-mail to write to pen-friends
around the world. Countries involved in this project include:
Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India, Japan and
America. If anyone would like to send an e-mail message to the
students then they can be contacted at students@sriwittayapaknam.ac.th
