Fifth-grade teacher Adam Killip was the recipient of the grant which provided new laptops for the 5th grade. Adam reflects on the difference the new laptops made in his classroom

In today’s economic climate, educators are forced to find ways around shortages in teaching aides and replenishment of materials such as textbooks.  In fact, it often seems as if the only surplus a teacher has is of things to accomplish each day.

If there is one subject where a teacher’s resourcefulness is routinely tested more than any other, it is science.  Especially during the elementary and middle school years, one cannot simply learn scientific concepts and develop meaningful skills by reading about them out of books.  This usually results in many hours of rummaging through junk drawers at home, and scouring the supply closets at school – all in the spirit of finding valuable materials for hands-on science experiences.  Reading is still important, especially when research skills are being taught, but the reading must be coupled with experiments and discussion that drive scientific inquiry.

Having an entire classroom’s worth of new laptops for kids to use is not a luxury that many educators south of 7^th grade have.  For the past two years, however, fifth graders in Cape Elizabeth have enjoyed just that. Besides providing expected benefits such as word processing and internet research, the laptops have catapulted students far beyond anything possible in the textbook world. Having used the machines in hundreds of lessons myself, I have seen the awesome power of developing minds growing through the use of innovative software and online experiences.

The program Inspiration has allowed students of all ability levels the opportunity to organize research into webs or traditional outlines.  Explore Learning’s web-based “gizmos” have allowed kids to conduct virtual science experiments with topics ranging from energy and scientific method to building electrical circuits – all without purchasing costly materials or separate textbooks for each student.  Webquests and numerous other online experiences have also been used to broaden students’ science experience. In math, students have even designed and built spreadsheets using Excel to plan monthly expenses and graph spending and savings.

A former colleague and school librarian once told me that there was no such thing as an old book, just one that needed to be rebound. It is quite possible, with the ever-increasing usage of electronic media, that there eventually will be no such thing as a new book.  Cape Elizabeth is a community that is fortunate enough to have a significant base of external resources available to supplement our schools’ needs.  By supporting the use of technology in the classroom, we are not only solving the problem of replacing outdated print materials, but we are also preparing our students for success in an electronic world.

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