MARLBORO — It was a simple electronic graphic of the food web, but to Assabet Valley Regional Technical School teachers participating in a three-day seminar at the school, it showed the potential of sending students out to do science projects with iPads.
“We learned how to use the app, went outside and took pictures and put it together in under one hour,” said science teacher Patrick Tobin.
The training is part of an effort to make technology a major part of science education.
“Evolution is the key,” said science teacher Michael DeLuca, who worked with Mr. Tobin to create the graphic as part of their training in mobile technology. “You’re no longer going to be able to teach the same lesson five years in a row.”
The two teachers and six other science teachers at the school are taking part in training through Verizon Innovative Learning Schools. The seminar and yearlong assistance provided to the school through a grant from the Verizon Foundation are aimed at improving student performance by helping teachers make better use of mobile electronic technology in the classroom.
Karen Richardson of the International Society for Technology in Education took the teachers through three days of learning to use iPads for video and photography, to create web pages and to connect to microscopes and other science equipment.
Robert McCann III, Assabet’s director of curriculum and assessment, who sat in on the training, said the hope is to make classes more accessible for students through information they can obtain online from teacher websites and through technology they can use to quickly create projects that normally took days.
As a technical school, Assabet is always upgrading its equipment to prepare students for an increasingly technology centered world, but Mr. DeLuca said it is a challenge to keep current.
“It’s a constant catch-up,” he said. “Every time you master a new technology, it is time to catch up.”
Physics and biology teacher Amy Sibert said that in the past teachers have told students to shut off their cellphones to keep them from disturbing the class. Now there is a different view developing that the phones, like iPads, are useful tools for learning.
“Instead of viewing them as a hindrance, we might as well capitalize on them,” she said.
The teachers said the technology will also help timid students and those who may require more help than others.
“It’s also more fun in the class,” said teacher Jim Bartolomeis. “The more fun, the more engaged they become. It becomes more of a community.”
All of the teachers have iPads, and iPads are available to students in school. Outside of school, the students will still use their own computers and other devices to get to information, but better connectivity will be available. The school has also issued netbooks, which are small laptop computers, to students in advanced-placement classes and to special-education students.
Alexia Forhan, who is serving as technology coach for the Verizon Project, said she is also is working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a project to use gaming as a way of teaching students what they need for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System testing.
Many of the teachers said they plan to begin incorporating what they learned in the training into their class work when school opens in the fall. Others may gradually add it.
“It allows us to evolve as teachers at a pace we’re comfortable with,” Mr. Tobin said.
Superintendent of Schools Mary Jo Nawrocki said teachers need to keep ahead of technology in part to keep ahead of their students.
“In our latest survey, we found a majority of our students have Internet access at home and you’d be hard pressed to find a student without a smart phone,” she said. “But professional development is expensive and it becomes very expensive. Every grant helps.”
The school is one of 12 from across the country to benefit from a $300,000 Verizon Foundation grant given to the International Society for Technology in Education.
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