Case Study: Molino Park Elementary
Opening the Floodgates
"The students are totally captivated. I’ve been a teacher for 31 years and I have never felt this connected to my students. They are more interested in learning and eager to participate. The Activboard system has opened the floodgates for teachers and students to actively engage their creative minds."
Sharon Smith, 4th grade teacher
Challenges and Goals
In 2001, the Escambia school district made the decision to combine its two smaller elementary schools - Molino and Barrineau Park - into one larger school named Molino Park Elementary.
With the opening of the new facility came the desire to assemble the most sophisticated educational technology in each classroom. Chalkboards, whiteboards and overhead projectors were the norm at the two previous schools. But the joint administrative and teaching staff of the new school wanted more. More action. More interaction.
“The teachers wanted their classrooms to come alive. They were determined to find a means to exhibit more creativity in their lessons so as to spark student interest and encourage hands-on participation,” said Alice Woodward, intern principal at Molino Park Elementary.
So Woodward took on the assignment to review and research the latest, groundbreaking educational technologies for the new school. Her research led her to take a comprehensive look at interactive whiteboards.
Challenges and Goals cont...
Woodward decided that the pursuit of interactive whiteboard technology could expand upon the school’s current technologies because of its ability to create a dynamic learning environment. This became an attractive solution. Financially it was sound because it met the stringent requirements of the district’s budget. From a resource-management angle, the school could make better use of its current technologies, not replacing them but enhancing them. So, in January 2002, Woodward attended the Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC) in Orlando . The conference gave her the opportunity to personally meet with a multitude of companies, each touting their respective interactive whiteboard systems.
“When I saw the various interactive whiteboards, I was excited about this innovative teaching tool,” said Woodward. “After I participated in a hands-on demonstration of the Activboard Collaborative Classroom System, I was convinced we needed it to be a part of our repertoire of tools to deliver our curricula at Molino Park . When the presentation was made to the faculty, they, too, began dreaming of the new possibilities of its use in the classroom.”
Through its interactive and powerful Activstudio software, Woodward was exposed to different teaching tools and hundreds of real-life classroom examples for every topic, theme or subject imaginable. “I became completely drawn in,” said Woodward.
The practical demonstrations also made it easy for Woodward to explain the system to the staff and teachers back at school. Added Woodward, “It would have been impossible to garner this much information from a spec sheet. Attending FETC proved to be invaluable.”
Implementation
Molino Park Elementary began using the Activboard at the beginning of the 2003-04 school year. The district purchased 26 Activboards along with six sets of the Activotes, hand-held, wireless response keypads designed to solicit student interactivity and measure learning comprehension.
Today, there is one mobile Activboard in every classroom. Additionally, you will find an Activboard in art and music and in the library, plus Woodward adds, “one to grow on.”
According to Woodward, the staff says the Activboard system wholly integrates with the existing technology of laptop computers, DVDs, VCRs, projectors, digital cameras and document scanners currently found in each classroom.
“The students are totally captivated,” said Sharon Smith, a fourth grade teacher at Molino Park . “I’ve been a teacher for 31 years and I have never felt this connected to my students. They are more interested in learning and eager to participate. The Activboard system has opened the floodgates for teachers and students to actively engage their creative minds.”
Teachers like Smith find that the many backgrounds and image libraries in the Activstudio software help to extend their current lessons. In math, Smith regularly incorporates the graph paper for plotting x and y-axes; the 100s chart for addition and subtraction; and she often creates her own flipcharts with pictures for word problems.
Implementation cont..
In language arts, Smith brings her instruction of adjectives, verbs, and nouns alive with her flipcharts. Students eagerly come to the Activboard and interact with their classmates as they manipulate the key parts of a sentence or fill in the blank of a question. Additionally, she may incorporate the Activote, the hand-held voting devices that provide teachers with instant student feedback.
“Our class has a set of 32 Activotes so the students pick up their unit on the way to their desks,” said Smith. “Then at anytime during class, I can use the Activote to solicit answers to problems or host a quiz or test. This gives me an immediate measurement of how well my students understand the material.”
In another example, the three, fourth-grade teachers worked as a group. The children were asked to read a story and then answer questions with their Activotes to test their comprehension skills. They rotated between each class with a different story and test given in each class. Smith added, “The students loved it because it was fast and fun, and the teachers loved it because we got an instant read on our students’ comprehension skills, which are all part of the Florida State Sunshine Standards.”
At a recent open house, Smith used the game show template and created a “Grinch Quiz.” “Parents were fascinated,” said Woodward. “They were curious at first, then they really got in to it and didn’t want to leave!”
“The Activboard system has made me a better teacher,” said Smith. “No longer do I have to rely on the old ‘drill and practice’ style of teaching or simply follow along in the textbooks. I’ve got the Internet at my fingertips. Not to mention, I don’t stand with my back to the class writing things on the board as we go. Now when the bell rings I’m ready to inspire, motivate and explore.”
Results
“Our teachers have a passion for teaching,” said Woodward. “They wanted to take that passion and meld it with the most advanced educational technology. That way our students would receive the finest instruction using the best teaching tools available. Today, our passions have been joined with the best student-centered teaching solution – the Activclassroom System. Now we have it all.”
About Molino Park Elementary
Molino Park Elementary in Molino , FL , enrolls approximately 450 students in kindergarten through grade five. Approximately 56 percent of students receive free or reduced price lunches. The rural school, near Pensacola , Fla. , is part of the Escambia County public school system, which consists of 39 elementary schools, 12 middle schools, nine high schools and 15 alternative schools and centers.