Planning School 2.0: Nazareth Area’s Newest Building is Being Created With ‘Technology Native’ Generation in Mind.

By Kelly-Anne Suarez, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

May 17–”Technology natives,” as Tracy Smith refers to the current generation, perceive the Internet and related devices as second nature.

That is opposed to some adults, whom Nazareth Area School District’s educational technology director refers to as “immigrants.”

In an effort to speak the language of its students, the district is examining every option to make its new middle school — slated to open in 2009 — high-tech and eco-friendly.

At a recent school board meeting, Diane Dautrich, assistant superintendent for educational programs, addressed the school’s technological advances.

“We want technology to be the dog, not the tail” of the building, said Dautrich.

The move aligns the district with Gov. Ed Rendell’s “Classrooms for the Future” initiative, a state project that aims to furnish high schools with laptop computers for every core-subject class, along with other multimedia tools.

One such tool is the interactive whiteboard, which — when linked to a computer — can serve as a television, overhead projector and chalkboard.

If all goes as planned, every classroom in the new Nazareth middle school will have one, Smith said. The shift will cost the district $1,000 more per room, but as electronic whiteboards become more common, that difference should fade, she said.

Smith said Nazareth didn’t want its students to have to wait until high school to benefit from the latest developments in educational technology.

Greg Reihman, Lehigh University’s director of faculty development, said the move is a wise one. As technology becomes more pervasive, it’s critical that students learn in environments that incorporate it, he said.

Reihman coordinates educational technology for Lehigh and has seen students adapt quickly to innovations. It has changed the way they research, the way they collaborate, even the way they write, he said, all for the better.

Nazareth administrators are hoping the same will hold true in K-12.

Draft plans for the new middle school also include Wi-Fi throughout the building, 25 laptops per team of teachers, a video production center and a weather station.

All ventures fall within the board’s $58 million budget for the school, Smith said.

The Bethlehem Area School District also has its sights set on the cutting edge.

The proposed new Broughal Middle School features a planetarium, greenhouse, flat-panel televisions in every classroom, a laptop for every student and several glass walls that will allow students to watch the building’s mechanics at work.

The latter component illustrates the driving force behind the project, Bethlehem Superintendent Joseph Lewis said.

Students will be able to study the building — how it consumes energy, how it processes its water or how it reacts to drops and spikes in temperature, for example — by using a software and hardware system that lets them see the processes in real time.

The program uses sensors to relay information to laptop-like units, transforming the data into bright, interactive icons.

Classes can compare their consumption with their counterparts across the county and across the nation and learn how their habits directly affect their environment, said Michael Roth, Nazareth’s curriculum director, who has met with teachers to decide which systems they wish to track.

Broughal and the Nazareth school plan to use the system.

Both schools also will be constructed in accordance with U.S. Green Building Council “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” guidelines. The accreditation involves everything from environmentally sound waste management and water and energy use to minimal indoor pollutant exposure and classroom acoustics.

When completed, the schools will join roughly 8,000 other projects registered with the council.

kelly.suarez@mcall.com

610-559-2151

—–

Copyright (c) 2007, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.