Nantucket Elementary Boasts New Classroom Technology

By JOSHUA STEWART Staff Writer

The new Nantucket Elementary School will have one of the largest collections of some of the most advanced classroom education tools for any elementary school in the state, Principal Diana Strohecker said.

When it opens for the first time on Aug. 27, classrooms will be equipped with interactive white boards, advanced sound systems and remote controls to make it easier for students to interact with lessons and for teachers to make real-time assessments of how the class is learning, Dr. Strohecker told members of the Greater Crofton Council last night.

The $10.7 million Nantucket Elementary, named after the road it was built along and a nearby neighborhood, is the newest of 77 elementary schools in the county with enough space for 721 students. By Dr. Strohecker spoke at the meeting, there were 671 students enrolled in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Dr. Strohecker, armed with a $2.5 million budget, started outfitting the school in the winter, purchasing everything from paperclips to the 42 interactive white boards, today’s answer to a chalk board enhanced with computer technology, videos, pictures and sound clips. She imple-mented some of the same types of technology she purchased during the end of her work at Millersville Elementary, where she was principal before Nantucket.

Dr. Strohecker said while she was studying in England on a Fulbright Scholarship, she saw firsthand how effective some forms of classroom technology can be. She said it quickly became apparent the tools teachers use there are about five years ahead of what is used in classrooms here.

The sound systems built into each classroom in Nantucket will be particularly useful. Teachers wear lanyards with microphones attached around their neck. The system picks up their voice and broadcasts it through four speakers strategically placed around the room, helping drown out distracting sounds such as other students passing by the hallway or the groundskeeper mowing the lawn outside.

“That is the No. 1 tool that most teachers who have it in their classroom stay that can’t live without,” Dr. Strohecker said.

The interactive white boards can help illustrate complex ideas that are tough to describe in a textbook, she said.

For example, when studying mitosis in biology class, it may be difficult to picture how a cell replicates itself. But the board, along with access to a video library, will allow teachers to find clips of the actual process, showing students what actually happens, she said.

“She has not only filled it up with new technology but new teachers of her choosing, which I think is more interesting,” said Tom Frank, chairman of the Greater Crofton Council education committee.

When it came to the technology, there was only one concern. Madonna Brennan, the council’s transportation committee chairman, said she was somewhat worried that once students pass into middle school they won’t have the same access to such cutting-edge tools. Or that, perhaps, they would become too well-versed in it while letting their mastery of the basics atrophy.

But Dr. Strohecker said the school system has a blueprint for new technology and she is hopeful that by the time this year’s first- graders enter middle school, there will be a smooth transition for rising middle school students, without a technology gap. {Corrections:} {Status:}

PRINCIPAL: CLASSROOM WHITE BOARDS, SOUND SYSTEM WILL AID LEARNING

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