More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education.
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I am teaching an integrated technology and literacy class that currently has very limited access to technology resources. For our robotics unit, we were able to borrow parts of Lego Mindstorms kits to combine to make one somewhat complete kit. Some students may have been discouraged by the lack of materials, but my students were excited and challenged by it. Without hesitation, they collaborated as an entire class to build an entirely new robot from the parts they had. Within a week, they were programming it and running it all around the room to mimic the time travel they read about in "A Wrinkle in Time".
The curriculum and the students in this class are focused on the future. The next phase of our curriculum will blend technology and sustainability, which are two concepts that in the past have been on opposite sides of the debate. We will consider many environmental issues we are currently facing and collaborate to research and create innovative techniques to make our practices more sustainable. In a traditional classroom, the conversation would stop there, but if we had a resource to actually create these innovations, the project becomes real. With a 3D printer in our school, my students will be able to bring to life the tools they need to create a school garden or build a diagram of a more efficient heating system for a home.
This printer would give my students access to technology most of them have never even seen before. We have arranged a trip to our local community college for a demonstration of their 3D printing program and a discussion of the viability of a career in technology. This trip would be infinitely more valuable if students knew they would be using those skills in our class.
About my class
I am teaching an integrated technology and literacy class that currently has very limited access to technology resources. For our robotics unit, we were able to borrow parts of Lego Mindstorms kits to combine to make one somewhat complete kit. Some students may have been discouraged by the lack of materials, but my students were excited and challenged by it. Without hesitation, they collaborated as an entire class to build an entirely new robot from the parts they had. Within a week, they were programming it and running it all around the room to mimic the time travel they read about in "A Wrinkle in Time".
The curriculum and the students in this class are focused on the future. The next phase of our curriculum will blend technology and sustainability, which are two concepts that in the past have been on opposite sides of the debate. We will consider many environmental issues we are currently facing and collaborate to research and create innovative techniques to make our practices more sustainable. In a traditional classroom, the conversation would stop there, but if we had a resource to actually create these innovations, the project becomes real. With a 3D printer in our school, my students will be able to bring to life the tools they need to create a school garden or build a diagram of a more efficient heating system for a home.
This printer would give my students access to technology most of them have never even seen before. We have arranged a trip to our local community college for a demonstration of their 3D printing program and a discussion of the viability of a career in technology. This trip would be infinitely more valuable if students knew they would be using those skills in our class.