Dave Stone, University Laboratory High School, Urbana, IL.
Activity 2e, C&I 335, Summer, 1998.
Technology Plans, Current Technology Status and Technology Vision of the Future
As one of two public laboratory high schools in the state of Illinois, University Laboratory High School is not part of a recognized public school district. Lacking a home district, and therefore lacking a district technology plan, I've modified this assignment as follows. First, I will discuss the existing University Laboratory High School technology plan. Second, I will summarize major points of the technology plans for the Champaign, IL (Unit 4) school district and the two high schools in that district, Centennial and Central High Schools. Third, I will outline major points I believe to be essential for inclusion in the next version of the University Laboratory High School Technology Plan. Fourth, I will discuss the current technological state of my classroom in reference to the existing University Laboratory High School technology plan. Finally, I will outline what my "dream" classroom would look like, assuming unlimited financial resources, as well as describe an average day in my technology dream classroom.
The current University Laboratory High School Technology Plan is sparse in content and clearly in need of update. The three page draft, written in 1993, consists of 1) a mission statement, 2) a section dealing with the role, structure and charge of the Technology Committee, 3) a tentative, relatively vague plan for integration of technologies throughout the curriculum, 4) a section dealing with responsible use of hardware, software, the computer labs and the Internet, 5) a training plan for teachers and students and 6) brief statements regarding financial planning and possible development of a collaborative relationship with NCSA (the National Center for Supercomputing Applications), including the possibility of serving as a model school for NCSA software tools. Written in part with the idea of the school becoming a testbed for various versions of NCSA's Mosiac, this technology plan is clearly outdated.
As stated above, I obtained copies of the Champaign Schools District Technology Plan, as well as the plans developed by the Technology Committees at Champaign Central and Champaign Centennial High Schools. I examined a copy of their well written, well organized district plan, which was drafted in 1997. An online version of the document is also available. The document introduces Unit #4 demographics, briefly introduces each of the schools within Unit #4 and identifies school-specific technology efforts. Sections of this plan are devoted to a history of Unit #4 technology implementation, network support, teacher training and grant involvement. The report culminates in a section devoted to the rationale for developing individual school technology plans and a model for actual construction of school-specific technology plans. Intended as a document to accompany individual school technology plans, this document is quite useful for those involved in grant writing and broader picture issues. The 1997-98 Champaign Centennial technology plan is a concise document which makes a number of general statements regarding the uses of technology, potential of the Internet, the use software and peripherals in teaching, the role of technology in education of special needs populations and finally, presents a brief list of recommended technology acquisitions for the upcoming school year. In contrast, the 1996-97 Champaign Central High School plan is a massive document which begins with general information mentioned previously, includes an extensive technology inventory and discusses in detail each of the school's academic department's technology use and anticipated technological needs over the next year. None of the three plans gave any strong sense of technology vision beyond the upcoming academic year - the focus was short-term needs.
This activity has made clear to me the value of the development of a detailed, regularly updated technology plan in terms of 1) documenting a school's history of technology implementation, 2) school demographics, 3) individual department and schoolwide needs, 4) financial support of technology-based initiatives, 5) teacher needs assessment and training, 6) established technology-based community partnerships and 7) technology-based grant activities. An archive of past technology plan documents will certainly prove useful in many new curriculum-based initiatives, reducing likelihood of us "reinventing the wheel," an activity which happens all too often in education. Perhaps just as importantly, a strong, well written technology plan will significantly contribute to the credibility of a school involved in bringing on particularly desirable new faculty and administrators or working to establish technology-based community partnerships. Though the three technology plans from the Champaign school districts occasionally hinted at vision beyond statements such as "prepare students for the 21st century," I believe it essential to go further in terms of clearly spelling out where we would like to be technologically two years in the future, as well as five years in the future. Equally important, I believe we should clearly state what we expect students to be able to do using technology at a number of different grade levels.
My classroom is actually significantly beyond the point we had projected in terms of our technology goals, established in 1993. This technological advancement is due to an unexpected $100,000 gift to the science department. as well as technology gifts from Toshiba in recognition of student accomplishments over the past three years in the international NSTA/Toshiba ExploraVision competition. Our 1993 technology plan envisioned all students and teachers having access to working computers with a minimum of 80 MB HD, 8 MB RAM and color monitors. In my classroom alone, I have 6 Power Macintosh 5400/120 computers (1.1 GB HD, 48 MB RAM, 8X CD-ROM Drive). Additionally, my classroom has a movable cart which houses a 27" Toshiba Color TV (CF27F30), Toshiba VCR (M-661) and RCA Double-sided Laserdisc Player (LDR-600). All of the computers are networked, and with advance notification, my students also have access to an identical computer set-up and identically equipped A-V cart in the Chemistry Lab. Students regularly come into my classroom during our shared free periods to discuss scientific technologies, browse the web, work with computer-based animation and computer-based video production software packages and discuss development of prototypes for various scientific technology competitions. Based on gifts from a grandparent donor and Toshiba, my classroom, and the technology-based skills the students and I have collectively developed, are much advanced beyond anything I imagined five years ago, when we first discussed the development of a technology plan.
As should appear clear from the paragraph above, I'm quite pleased with the computer-related technology in my classroom. The AV cart with the 27" television, VCR and laserdisc player are used regularly. I find the pod of six Macintosh computers in my classroom to work exceptionally well, in that the number of machines is sufficiently small that I can effectively administer, troubleshoot and upgrade as needed. Students are able to work at those machines while I teach other classes. Though not physically in my classroom, I see the IBM Lab across the hall as an extension of it. I eagerly await this summer's replacement of its current computers because, in combination with the computers in the Biology Lab, each of my students will have their own machine during web-based activities. I've requested that my classes be scheduled opposite those classes that use the IBM Lab most heavily, and it appears the administration has made every effort to do so.
Technologies other than those which are computer-related continue to be a source of concern. Our Biology Lab needs to significantly increase its microscope inventory (both monocular for viewing of microscope slides and binocular for viewing of three dimensional specimens). At this point our ratio of students to microscopes is between 3 and 4 students to each microscope. Our biotechnology holdings, excluding audio-visual material, are quite scant. I would like to purchase a sufficient number of electrophoresis chambers, power supplies and reagents that at some point we can have one of these set-ups for each pair of students. As is true of most public schools, the factor limiting procurement of the additional technological items is our department budget - $6,500 distributed between 36 sections of science classes leaves us with $180 per course to cover equipment, supplies, specimens, hardware, software and copying costs. The per course allotment covers a single electrophoresis kit or approximately 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of a sale-priced, reasonably good quality microscope. In the near future, I should plan to purchase two electrophoresis set-ups and one microscope per year. Realistically though, continued technological expansion cannot occur within our current funding structure. We need to continue technology-based grant writing efforts as well as continue making good use of various awards with accompanying gifts given in acknowledgment of student and teacher efforts and achievements.
Overall Physical Layout
My dream classroom consists of three main parts: 1) a Main Meeting, 2) an adjoining open Preparation Area off to one side of the main room and 3) an area for large equipment, storage and a pod of computers.
Main Meeting Room
You enter my dream classroom through a door situated at the front of the Main Meeting Room. This long, narrow room is the place where lectures, discussions, students presentations and lab activities are performed. You'll notice immediately as you enter, a chalkboard and a pull-down projection screen along the frontmost wall. Centered several feet in front of the screen is a synthetic stone-topped instructor table, approximately 10' long x 3' wide. It includes a set of drawers, a single spigot sink with hot and cold water, a gas jet, 4+ electric outlets and 2 b-jacks for direct ethernet connection. This allows for the ready display of overheads and computer screens using a high intensity projector. A mobile
Microvideo cart, carrying a Microvideo System with Compound Microscope (displays microscope slides for group study or examination) and a Microvideo System with a Zoom Macroscope (displays three dimensional specimens of various sizes) is easily moved in front of the instructor table for display when appropriate.
Symmetrically placed along the sides of the blackboard are floor to ceiling storage cabinets. Both sides of the room are lined by cabinets which are topped by synthetic stone-topped counters. One side of the long room has a continuous bank of glass-front display cases situated 1 1/2' above the counters, the side opposite the door has similar small banks of display cases interspersed by windows. The tops of the display cases act as storage areas for the large plastic models I will use in my teaching:
1. Plastic Organelle Models (Mitochondrion, Golgi Complex, Chloroplast, etc.),
2. Plastic Stem, Root and Leaf Models (Full Cross Section Models of Each),
3. Plastic Human Models (Arm Musculature, Shoulders, Elbows, Hips),
4. Plastic Bone, Nerve and Muscle Models,
5. Sensory Organ Models and
6. Dissection Models (Shark, Frog, Pig, Cat, Starfish, Brain).
Students sit in three rows of synthetic stone-topped, two student lab tables. The tables, which have leg openings on all sides, allow students to easily move from working independently to working in groups up to six, by simply moving their chairs. Each two-student table has a bank of drawers under the table top positioned between the students, a single spigot sink with hot and cold water, a gas jet, 2 electric outlets and 2 b-jacks for direct ethernet connection of laptop computers. The cabinets along the wall house the standard equipment found in most biology teaching labs today, as well as the following:
1. Electrophoresis Chambers (for separation of proteins and DNA) - 1/pr. of students,
2. Thermal Cyclers for performing PCR (for DNA amplification) - 1/group of 4 students,
3. Monocular Microscope (4x, 10x, 40x and 100x objectives) - 1 per student,
4. Stereomicroscope (2x and 4x objectives) - 1 per student,
5. Environmental Testing Kits - 1/pr. of students,
6. Color Blindness Testing Kit - 1 per 4 students and
7. Laptop Computers - 1 per student.
Preparation Area
Open to the Main Room, and on the side opposite the door, is the Preparation Area. The entire rectangular area is bounded by below eye-level cabinets, topped by synthetic stone-topped counters, identical to those that bound the sides of the Main Meeting Room. Along one counter is a single spigot sink with hot and cold water. Directly next to the sink area are a variety of free standing and built-in glassware drying racks. Spaced 8' apart along the back of each counter are gas jets, double electric outlets and b-jacks for direct ethernet connection. The cabinets contain various types of glass- and plasticware (e.g. flasks, test tubes, beaker, graduated cylinders). Lockable glass-fronted display cases containing dyes, stains and other common substances, bound the wallspace unoccupied windows. Lockable 6' chemical storage cabinets separate acids, bases and volatiles as determined appropriate by chemical reagent vendors and scientific organizations.
Computer Pod/Storage Area
Behind the last set of two-student tables is an open space which houses numerous aquaria and mobile racks with terraria, heavy equipment (e.g. large incubator, autoclave, Berlese funnel set-up), additional storage cabinets, a glass-fronted microscope cabinet and a 3,000 microscope slide storage cabinet (which houses the entire set of microscope slides sold by Carolina Biological Supply), a large sink with drying racks and an area along the wall for the storage of the A-V cart (which houses a 27" television/classroom display monitor, two VCRs, a DVD player and a laserdisc player).
At the back of the room, the Computer Pod has a separate door which allows student entry during meeting time of other classes. Two long, very stable tables hold eight of the highest end desktop machines currently available. Each machine has a full Internet connection and comes with all of the bells and whistles (fastest CD-ROM or DVD drives, maximum RAM capable for those machines, internal Jaz drives, etc.). They are all networked to a single laser printer, housed next to a flatbed scanner. These desktop machines, as well as the laptops (which are also the highest end models available), are regularly updated with the newest versions of the collective software from Microsoft and Adobe. Additionally, each has the latest versions of the best Internet browser, file transfer utility, modeling, animation, video production, hard drive optimization and virus protection programs. These machines all have a Macintosh interface, yet are able to run the full complement of PC programs. Finally, as long as I'm dreaming, I have instant access to on-site assistance in set-up and system modification, repair of technology products and software training available whenver the students or I need additional training.
An Average Day in My Technology-based Dream Classroom
An average day in my technology-based science dream classroom will vary fairly significantly, though each group of students will experience biology in ways which expand well beyond what I can do today in my present facility.
In the first year courses, students need to leave the classroom with a fundamental body of knowledge, though the way in which they acquire that body of knowledge is not specifically prescribed. As we discuss various topics, I will be able to supplement a wide variety of simulations and web-based demonstrations. The high intensity projector will allow students to see these directly on the drop-down screen at the front of the room. Individual laptops will allow students to enter their own values, allowing us to collectively see how different values or variables can impact a number of simulations and models of different biological phenomena ranging from the subcellular to global ecosystem levels. When discussing various types of organisms, students will be able to go directly to various pages, produced by me or other biology teachers, which help students visualize variations and commonalties of living things.
In the advanced classes, students will explore web-based resources relating to topics discussed in class, as well as pursue research project interests. They will find journal articles and books pertaining to individual areas of research using university library databases, and download articles which are not possible to procure locally. They will use the same computational science-based tools practicing scientists use, through activities developed by teachers, which stem from projects similar to the one I have proposed for this class (see C&I 335 Proposal).
Students electing to pursue additional knowledge through Independent Studies or science competitions will have full access to the Computer Pod for those activities requiring web-based research, finding and procuring scientific articles, prototype development and video production.
Regardless of my students' academic level, I would like them to have full supervised access to my dream technology-based classroom throughout the school day and for several hours after school. I also would like them to have supervised access to the classroom for several hours each day during the weekends and full day access during breaks. I've found that working with students outside of the normal school day has allowed me to teach at a different level than is the case during school days, and I believe it to be very motivating and personally satisfying for the students as well as myself.
Return to Dave Stone's e-Portfolio
Return to C&I 335 Home Page
Last updated on June 19, 1998