EDWARDSVILLE – With the buzz about common core standards and sticking to the traditional methods of educating the next generation of students, Edwardsville High School allows for students to explore each possible and innovative opportunity to further their education.
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Over the past few years, EHS Math Department Chair John Meinzen has given his computer science students an opportunity to produce something extraordinary—a one-of-a-kind interactive display.
The project, appropriately named the Tiger Interactive Display, or TED, is an ongoing and constantly changing touch-screen interface with a 55” display. Students will have the opportunity to view student-created work, such as digital art created with mathematics, games expertly written with coding and much more.
“It’s a way for any student who wants to learn a little bit more about web development or programming to create projects or games in JavaScript or HTML to put on TED,” senior Jacob Waller said.
Waller, along with a select group of kids, was chosen by Mr. Meinzen to lead the TED project and help other programming students bring their ideas to life. After beginning coding in sixth grade after joining a Robotics team, his passion for computer science blossomed from there.
The interactive device runs on a Linux operating system and has been set up with a hand-coded user interface so that people can view TED as a modern, kiosk-type experience.
This program would havenot been possible if not for a grant provided by Emerson Electric. The company provided the framework for the project beginning in 2012 after the grant was received for the students in the Special Topics in Computers, as it will be referred to next school year as Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles.
“One or more of our projects in this class will include creating a game or some software that we can place on TED so that anybody who comes up to use it can see what’s going on with the class,” Meinzen said. “Our former students who have worked on it designed the structure, created the framework software and literally put it all together. Now, we’re implementing new software and constantly working to improve it.”
Mr. Meinzen shares his love for programming and mathematics with his students. With his help, he can show his students that the computer science industry is an extremely lucrative and high-demand career option in the rapidly changing world.
Students like Claire Fuesting, a senior in Mr. Meinzen’s class, are eager to dip their feet into the multi-billion dollar industry.
“Claire is really on the front-end of young women joining the work force in computer science,” Meinzen said. “Historically, it hasn’t been a female-oriented course or subject and we’re getting a lot more interest in the program.”
Having created a tic-tac-toe game for TED, Fuesting has spent plenty of hours working on programming and sharpening her code expertise.
“I’m really excited,” Fuesting said about her computer science experience, “It’s really unexpected because people don’t see me as a programmer type of person. I love it and I can provide a lot of new observations and ideas.”
With the seniors graduating in May, current students behind the TED project will be required to pass the torch to their predecessors. Past and present students who have worked on TED are featured on the interface’s developer’s page.
As far as the future of TED, Mr. Meinzen says it all relies on his students to continue to work and create new and exciting projects to feature on the one-of-a-kind experience.
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