(by Don Meador, Allen County Schools, October 21, 2019)
Students at the Allen County-Scottsville High School (AC-SH) will soon
be using 30 new Chromebooks thanks to a grant approved last week by the United
Way of Southern Kentucky Board of Directors. The $6,000 College and Career Readiness
Grant to Allen County Schools is designated for the purchase of Chromebooks to
be used in science and special education classrooms at the high school.
“We are thankful for the support of United Way of Southern Kentucky and excited about the addition of more Chromebooks to our school,” noted AC-SH science educator and grant writer Jeremy Byrn. “Our teachers are continuing to find new ways to increase learning through the use of Chromebooks.”
Byrn explains that “the Chromebooks will be used every day by at least one science teacher” and will impact learning in several ways, specifically within the science department at the high school.
“A big push in Biology classes is the argument-driven inquiry instructional model,” Byrn explained. “In this model, we are making activities more authentic by giving students an opportunity to engage in scientific practices instead of giving them a worksheet with a procedure to follow and a data table to fill out. These activities, however, also need to be educative for students in order to help develop the knowledge and abilities associated with science proficiency. The Chromebooks will allow students to research best lab practices in designing controlled experiments or research and analyze existing data sets to develop arguments. Students will build scientific literacy in generating arguments that support a claim with genuine evidence.”
“In Chemistry, concepts can be very abstract and difficult to master,” Byrn continued. “Chromebooks would be instrumental in helping our students experience chemistry simulations, online labs, molecular modeling programs, individualized tutorials, and a world of current scientific research. They will also be used to collect and graph data from experiments and write more authentic lab reports.”
“In Physics, PhET simulations open up opportunities for simulating labs that are not possible in a high school setting,” Byrn noted. “PhET is a suite of research-based interactive computer simulations for teaching and learning physics, chemistry, math, and other sciences. PhET simulations can be run online or downloaded for free from the PhET website. The simulations are animated, interactive, and game-like environments where students learn through exploration. They emphasize the connections between real-life phenomena and the underlying science and help make the visual and conceptual models of expert scientists accessible to students. Research shows that effective use of PhET simulations can lead to improved conceptual learning over traditional lectures, demonstrations, and labs.”
Byrn added that the new Chromebooks will
continue to enhance learning processes already in place through Google based
educational programs.
“All of our department has set up Google Classrooms from which we can share assignments,” Byrn said. “Students can work on their assignments and then submit them back to us and which time we can give digital feedback to improve learning. Using Google Docs or Slides, students can collaborate in real-time to create new material which is an upper-level skill. Another advantage is that Google is web-based, so student files are not locked up in the school’s server. Students can access, work on, and submit work from anywhere there is Internet.”
In
writing the grant application, Byrn explained that the funding will be used to
purchase 30 HP Chromebooks with domain licensing. The Chromebooks will be used
by six science and three special education teachers in their classrooms with a
targeted population of the approximately 1,000 students who take science
courses at ACSH each year.
“The expected outcome is an increased engagement by students in interactive lessons that will prepare them for an increasingly digital workforce,” Byrn also explained in the application. “We hope to develop the higher-order skills of critical thinking, analysis, and scientific inquiry through active engagement participation, frequent interaction, and connection to real-world contexts. A set of Chromebooks devoted to the science department will allow teachers access to the technology on a consistent basis.”
The new Chromebooks will also benefit
students beyond the science classrooms by freeing up Chromebooks already
available. In addition, the Chromebooks will meet needs students have in
accessing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) and collaborative
web-based digital tools.
“AC-SH has Chromebook carts that can be reserved by teachers,” Byrn said. “But, due to the increasing tools available to students and teachers via the Chromebooks, the carts are difficult to reserve. Computers in classrooms create an interaction between students and course material that accommodate different learning styles in ways that traditional curriculum cannot.”
The United Way of Southern Kentucky grant to
Allen County Schools is a part of ten flexible support grants recently
approved, grants totaling $55,275.00 for initiatives in ten counties across
southcentral Kentucky.