What next? Technology shifts from class clown to study buddy

“If you can dream it, it can come alive with technology,” said Gregg Eilers, one of those who train teachers for the Stanislaus County Office of Education.

At Turlock High, geoscience students can visit far away parks and lift large boulders, turn them around and flip them over to examine, thanks to 360-degree virtual field trips pioneered by teacher Ryan Hollister.

At Hughson High, Spanish students of Guadalupe Castillo gain fluency by writing and starring in videos on topics they choose and research.

At Hanshaw Middle School, the South Modesto Partnership, Modesto City Schools and Harvard student Emanuel Escamilla have teamed to provide a multiyear computer coding program, pointing tweens toward high-paying jobs of the future.

Charter high schools are piloting personalized instruction, allowing teachers to leverage computers to customize personal learning programs. Every student, from those in special education classes to those in classes for the gifted can sit beside each other in class and each be challenged; and each can be successful.

Classrooms are moving, albeit unevenly, from computers for playtime, or as textbooks with buttons, to more purposeful uses meant to drive college readiness and career skills. Technology purchases are being driven more by teacher input, and building in more teacher training, said Luke Hibbard, also with the SCOE Educational Technology Center.

“We’re starting to see a transition to not just learning how to use (robots), but why. Not just a fun activity, but something that has purpose,” said Eilers, standing at the next swivel-mounted computer station.

They pointed out that tech tools now augment nearly every workplace. Real estate agents create virtual tours of houses. Nurses and doctors create and check digital records of patients. Even garbage collectors, the quintessential low-tech job, use robotic arms to hoist containers.

“The reality is, their world is going to be more powered by robots. Their homes will be more powered by robots,” said Jose Marquez, a traveling SCOE technology instructor, as he watched Knights Ferry students working with Lego electronics.

Knights Ferry School used a $25,000 grant from the America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education Program to buy Lego robotic kits, kid-friendly Dash robots, and provide lots of teacher training this school year.

“People think of (robotics) as being fluffy, just fun. It’s beyond that. (Reading) is a language. Math is a language. The more languages we understand and ways we can look at a problem, the better learners we are,” Marquez said.

“I’m not a math person, but this was pretty fun,” said eighth-grader Olivia Doshas. She generally prefers the abstract concepts of stories to the regimented paths of equations and programming.

“In algebra we have to do the step by step; it’s that mindset,” Doshas said.

“At first it was frustrating. I don’t like this step-by-step stuff,” said seventh-grader Avalea Yates.

Beside her, classmate Annabel Lee added, “But I feel like it’s necessary. We messed up so many times.”

Walking back through the steps to find the misstep helped. Assembling and programming the robots, as plodding as the work seemed at times, Yate said, “It’s actually better than anything else we’re going to do today.”

That sequential process matters to succeed in any math or science lesson, making the coding challenge a universal skill-builder.

“Certainly you’re applying math thinking to a fun and engaging kind of activity,” said Superintendent Janet Skulina. Even kindergartners took to it, she added, “They are writing code. It’s block code, not like writing Java or anything – but they are writing code.”

Technology opens the door to high-end jobs with a boundless need, Skulina said, opportunities the 91 students served by the tiny elementary district might not have otherwise.

“This gives them access to robotics and coding, to understand how robots work. I’m hoping some will be enticed to look at engineering, maybe engineering with an agricultural bent since we’re an ag community,” she said.

Younger grades get as much out of it as the eighth-graders, added Skulina. “They like it. They can have their robot do a course and they’re doing geometric shapes. They’re doing angles,” she said. “It’s cause-and-effect thinking for the little guys.”

Just to be clear, fun still figures in the mix.

“It’s taking that aspect of transformative learning, with that aspect of fun. They’re developing so many different skills,” Skulina said.

This story was originally published January 28, 2017 at 2:41 PM with the headline "What next? Technology shifts from class clown to study buddy."