Lawrence Public Schools will become one step closer to top notch classrooms across the country in April. Six schools in the district will receive new computers in the secondary science departments. The computers will provide students with opportunities they do not currently have.
The science curriculum is what started the drive for more technology according to Lynda Allen, Director of Mathematics and Sciences.
“The curriculum has been waiting for this,” Allen said. “We are still not where we would like to be but we are giving teachers each six computers for their classrooms.”
The science textbooks are already designed with informational websites in the margins of the text. Students will soon be able to access that information on the computers during class. Computer programs like Probeware, will also allow students to hook science instruments up to the computer. The computers can graph data instantly while students conduct experiments.
The 222 new computers are scheduled to be installed in South, Central, West and Southwest Junior High Schools. Lawrence High School and Free State High School will also receive computers. The computer purchase, according to Michel Eltschinger, Director of Information Technology Services for USD 497, includes 191 laptops, 27 desktops and 4 media machines.
Tom Bracciano, Division Director Operations and Facility Planning, said the computers were funded through the Lawrence Public Schools 2005 Facility Improvement Bond Issue for $54,000,000.
“I was involved in bringing in the computers due to the fact that we were under budget on the construction portion of the bond issue and therefore we had money we weren’t expecting to have. This money was then available for the purchase of computers,” Bracciano said. The computers are scheduled to ship in the next two weeks from science equipment company Sargent-Welch.
The computers are one of several additions being made to the science classrooms. Document projection cameras, funded by the same bond, are new to secondary science classrooms this semester.
“It is really cool, we can watch our teacher do experiments up close and it projects it on the wall,” Hillary Yoder, Southwest Junior High eight grader said. Yoder also likes taking notes from data tables shown on the projector. She said it makes things faster and easier for her and her classmates.
Classrooms will be seeing more improvements in the coming year according to Allen. She thinks the improvements will make Lawrence Public Schools comparable to the schools she has observed across the country. “Just last night at our meeting I got $170,000 from the Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment part of the bond to pay for things like new desks and more counter space.”