Science classes going high-tech

Palatka Daily News, October 12, 2001

By Jennifer Thomas
Palatka Daily News

CRESCENT CITY ­ Wireless technology has arrived for three public schools here. The equipment comes in the form of mobile laptops and interactive calculators. Teachers previously sent students to computer labs in separate classrooms for tutoring.
There are still labs at Middleton-Burney Elementary, Miller Intermediate and Crescent City Jr.-Sr. High schools. Now, however, teachers can roll computers into their own classrooms because of the new wireless laptops and calculators.

A $500,000 state education grant obtained by the North East Florida Educational Consortium is helping the schools acquire the new technology. Sherry J. Colarusso, a NEFEC project manager who wrote the grant, said the wireless computers allow teachers to interact with students in the classroom.

Middleton-Burney received two sets of 30 laptops that are used to teach writing and mathematics. Adult migrant literacy students, who take night classes at the school, use the same computers.

One set of 30 mobile laptops was purchased for Miller Intermediate. Colarusso said the intermediate school's teachers use them for all subject areas. Colarusso said Crescent City Jr.-Sr. High School received wireless new technology by Texas Instruments. "The teacher has a computer. Each student will have a graphing calculator called the Ti 83 Plus," she said.
The calculators run on TI Navigator software, and allow students to communicate with the teacher through the calculator, Colarusso said. Students work on problems involving a higher level of thinking, integrating math and science. She said it "allows kids to do a lot of explanations about their scientific worlds." For example, students can measure and record temperature in a cup of coffee. They can determine light, temperature, pressure and voltage for certain experiments.
Colarusso said connecting science and math is the emphasis.
The Texas Instruments system is new technology, and has only been piloted in Miami, she said.

NEFEC is sponsoring a seminar Oct. 29-30 at its local office to introduce the system to science teachers from CCHS, Palatka High School and Bradford High School in Starke, and other guests. Colarusso said the Department of Education likely funded the grant for two reasons.

"We targeted an entire community that included those parents," she said, referring to the grant reaching the south Putnam area where there is a large population of migrant Hispanic students and adults. Second, the computers are "cutting edge" technology never before used, she said.

See October 12, 2001 issue of Palatka Daily News for original article.