Case Study: Houston County High School

Making Social Studies Come Alive

"Student participation is no problem in Jaqui Wilson’s Social Studies classes. Encouraged to participate in group discussions after anonymous voting with the Activote hand held response devices. Maps and history are larger than life on the Promethean Activboard."

Warner Robins, GA

Challenges and Goals

Houston County High School , as well as many other schools in this district, has installed the Promethean Activclassroom System in many of their classrooms.

Today, the high school has 15 complete Activboard systems that include wall-mounted Activboard interactive whiteboards with the built-in Activstudio software tools and resources, and the wireless Activslate, allowing teachers and students to control the whiteboard from anywhere in the classroom. Additionally, each room has access to a set of Activotes, 32 hand-held voting devices that provide teachers with instant student feedback. Finally, each teacher received an Activtablet, allowing them to develop lessons and flip charts with Activstudio when away from the board.

Focus on Social Studies

While the Activboard is used by a variety of subjects, we have interviewed Jacqui Dravis-Wilson, from the Houston County High Social Studies Department.

Teachers in the high school Social Studies department have changed the traditional approach of teaching map studies by creating a dynamic exchange of information. Before class time, teachers pull pre-existing maps from the large Activstudio resource libraries and illuminate them on the Activboard. During class, students are asked to come to the Activboard to work on their map skills by identifying specific countries or states.

Traditionally, teachers have not always been sure if students completely comprehend a subject before proceeding to the next lesson as tests are administered after a subject has been reviewed. Today, teachers at Houston County High School have the ability to understand each student’s knowledge level by incorporating the Activote into their daily instruction. To confirm if additional review and instruction is needed, teachers use the Activote device to show what concepts students are getting right and wrong, and specifically WHO answered the questions correctly or incorrectly. The Activote is also used for opinion activities which, of course, can be used to start stimulating discussions. For example, “Should Lewis and Clark have taken Sacagawea on the expedition?” Students can give their opinion by marking “A” for yes and “B” for no.

District Profile

Houston County High School in Warner Robins, GA, has a student population of approximately 2,200 in grades nine through 12. Nearly 28 percent of the students enrolled are minority and 13 percent receive free and reduced lunch prices. The rural Georgia school is part of the Houston County School District, which has 35 schools and nearly 23,000 students enrolled system-wide. Houston County High School was honored as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence for its exemplary success in meeting local, state, and national goals in educating students. In May 2003, Houston County High School was named an Intel® Model School.