This article includes a group of Case Study reports from Apple Computer Inc
covering their Classrooms of Tomorrow....
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow: A Case Study
---------------------------------------------------------------------
West High School ACOT Students Learn Valuable Skills, Strengthen Community
Bonds

How can an Apple Classroom of Tomorrow be distinguished from other
classrooms? One hallmark is that students usually work in collaborative
teams, doing interdisciplinary studies that are applied to real world
situations. Bob Howard's classroom at West High School in Columbus, Ohio,
is no exception. 

Several years ago, Howard and his students embarked upon the CityScape
project, building a scale model of the central business district of
Columbus, Ohio. Each team of students selected its favorite downtown
building to model, and with the help of Apple Macintosh computers, went
far beyond the expected cardboard mock-up. 

Students built robotic models of cranes, elevators, and automatic door
controls, each of which was controlled using a Macintosh computer.
Students even measured granite blocks on the buildings' exteriors to
determine how many stones per square inch would be needed for an accurate
scale model, and cut vents for air conditioning units in exactly the right
places. Advanced trigonometry was used to get correct angles on the
buildings' roofs. Students obtained blueprints of city buildings,
mathematically converting the differently scaled blueprints so that each
building would be converted to an equal scale. Some buildings even had
exact models of the upscale restaurants located on the top floor. Students
then cut foam core to build the buildings' structures. The accurate
exterior design of each building, constructed by the students using
Macintosh computers, as printed by an outside printer and glued on the
sides of the foam core. 

The CityScape project went beyond reconstructing the physical dimensions of
the city's most prominent buildings. It included a report on each
building's history, architecture, design and surrounding community, all
chronicled by the students via library research or interviews with
long-time building tenants. "This project prompted students to go beyond
the craft of constructing a model, to explore advanced mathematics,
architecture and history. The students' enthusiasm during this project is
hard to even describe-using technology inspired their teamwork and
creativity. After they completed the actual project, they even created a
multimedia video disc of CityScape so they could have an electronic record
of their work," says Howard. The model, in the end, was seven and a half
feet high. It was so impressive that the local Center of Science and
Industry set the model up as one of its displays for three months during
the following summer. 

Howard's classrooms have done equally innovative projects in subsequent
years. After speaking at a local community event, Howard was approached by
a Kiwanis Club member, asking if his team of students would publish its
full-tabloid, more than 40-page color newspaper, rather than sending the
work to an expensive local service bureau. The paper, at the time, had 500
advertisers. Howard's class was tasked with not only publishing the
tabloid, but also creating mail-merged letters to advertisers soliciting
their support. Also, the class had to send invoices or rebilling notices
to each advertiser. The Kiwanis Club saved thousands of dollars in the
process, and Howard's ACOT class learned valuable real-world skills.
Later, almost 30 Kiwanis Clubs and several other Lion's Clubs around the
nation approached Howard to ask if his class could produce its newspapers.
Howard, of course, had to decline. "There are enough community service
activities for every high school in the U.S. that wants to get involved.
The bond between education, business and technology can be so productive
and so beneficial to students," says Howard. 

In the 1994-1995 school year, West High's Alumni Association asked if
Howard's class could create an historical video of the school, which was
established in 1929. Howard saw this as another great applied learning
opportunity for his students. Half of the video was digitized using
Macintosh computers, and edited using Adobe Premiere and Passport
Producer. Analog portions and digital portions were dubbed together to
form the final video. The video was comprised of 40 hours of field tape,
taken by the students themselves. The ground upon which West High was
built was formerly Camp Chase, the largest military camp during the Civil
War Civil War casualties, as it turned out, were still buried under the
football field-a fact that student found intriguing as they rediscovered
Civil War history in a new context. Proceeds from the video have been used
for students to go on a field trip, buy a new video deck and form a
scholarship fund for West High graduates. 

Students in Bob Howard's ACOT classroom report that using technology
increases their enthusiasm for learning, and helps them understand how the
fundamental skills learned in the classroom can be applied to real-world
situations. Part of the success of Howard's efforts can be attributed to
Howard himself and the other teachers at West High School. Howard said
when he first embarked on being an ACOT teacher he had his "doubts about
whether or not it would work, but letting students use software like
adults--as a tool to get assignments done-unlocks creativity, enthusiasm,
teamwork and dedication. It prompts them to excel far beyond what is
expected." His "can-do" attitude is summed up by a sign that hangs in his
office: "What have you done today that no one else has ever tried?" 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Coast to Coast Collaboration Helps Students Learn from Each Other and
Become Interested in World Affairs 

In a traditional classroom situation, students sit quietly and listen to
the teacher impart knowledge. Each student takes notes, and assimilates
the information to the best of his or her ability. Without a broad
context, concepts are often not immediately associated with, or applied
to, real-world situations. When technology enters the classroom, this
model changes dramatically. 

Technology provides the catalyst and the framework for students to form
their own opinions, share those opinions with other students and apply
concepts learned in class to real-world phenomena, using higher-level
thinking skills. Using technology, students create their own learning
experience, collaborating with others to make discoveries with the
teacher's help. Technology alters the teaching role as well. Teachers no
longer have to act as the sole source of knowledge, but become academic
coaches, leading and encouraging students in the discovery process. 

Two middle school classrooms with access to Apple Macintosh computers and
learning software that links a computer database to a graphing tool
illustrate the changes in the learning process spurred by technology.
These two groups of students were given the opportunity to collaborate not
only with their classmates, but also with students located across the
country. The two classrooms--one in San Rafael, California at Davidson
Middle School, and another in Washington, D.C. at Jefferson Junior High
School--communicate via satellite. 

The learning exchange usually starts in California, for example, with teams
of students watching videos on the computer screen. Today, it is a video
of a MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour segment about global warming. Using the
learning software, students enter data about global warming into the
database which is immediately reflected on-screen in a graphical fashion.
Teams form opinions or hypotheses that may or may not be supported by the
graphical data. They create videos in which they discuss their hypotheses,
attaching supporting graphs to the videos. When class comes to an end,
students in California send their work via satellite to corresponding
teams in Washington, D.C. The following day, students at Jefferson Junior
High School enthusiastically open their video mail from their peers at
Davidson Middle School. "It appears that the more energy a country uses,
the more CO2 they produce, contributing to global warming. We think this
is due to more industry per person. Does your data support this
conclusion?" asks one California student of his teammates in Washington.
The Washington team replies with their own videos, data and opinions,
along with questions for their California friends, making the learning
experience rich and exciting. 

"Sometimes I think they don't even realize what they are doing-that they
are actually in school, learning and studying. They see it as fun. They
get so focused, you can see they're using higher-level thinking skills.
For a teacher, it's very rewarding,', says Genie Colteaux, teacher at
Davidson Middle School 

Using technology, the teams create an active reaming experience, involving
exploration and a lot of collaboration. Students generate the questions
and find the answers together. Learning is transformed from the solitary
experience of sitting and listening to the teacher impart wisdom, to the
experience of exciting mutual discovery. 

"The process changes my role. I am no longer the sole giver of information.
I am now more like an academic coach," says Stanley Johnson, teacher at
Jefferson Junior High School. 

Said one student in Washington, D.C., about the impact of this type of
learning on his lifestyle. "It has changed the way I watch television.
Before, I would change channels, looking for a movie. Now, if I tune in to
the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour, I stop and see what's going on. It has made
me interested in what is going on in the world! " 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Kids, Cameras and Computers Make Scientific Discovery Exciting

Picture several groups of excited ten-year-olds having fun. They are
thoroughly absorbed in what they are doing, eagerly helping and
encouraging each other. You might imagine that these children are at a
baseball game, recess or another highly entertaining event. In fact, this
is the scene during a fifth grade biology class at the Ross School that
has ready access to video cameras and Apple Macintosh computers. 

To observe the effects of cameras and computers in the classroom, fifth
grade biology students were divided into teams of four and provided with a
video camera and a Macintosh computer. Each team was asked to dissect a
sheep's heart. In preparation, the teacher first provided direct
instruction about the different parts of the heart. As a guide, the teams
were shown videos created by experts and their teacher of heart
dissections. Then teams were tasked with creating their own short videos,
using the same technology as the expert, that showed each part of the
heart and explained how the heart works. 

The videos were instantly recorded to the computer's hard drive and shown
on the computer screen in real-time. Students received immediate feedback
about how their team was doing. Video playing on the computer screen let
the camera person know whether or not the camera was in focus or the sound
person know if sound was clear. It immediately told the presenter if he or
she was speaking clearly and loudly, cutting the heart in the correct spot
or explaining concepts coherently. During the course of the project,
students switched roles on the production team, each having an opportunity
to be either narrator, camera person, computer operator or sound person.
Students helped each other do each job, and decide what to say about the
team's discoveries. 

"Working in teams using technology helped students build a more diverse
array of skills, and set the stage for them to take on roles they
otherwise might shy away from," says Meg Fitzgerald, project leader.
"Timid students often became more outgoing or were given their chance to
shine. A shy student sometimes even discovered hidden presentation skills.
When learning in this manner, students often achieved more than was
expected." The students' heart videos went far beyond the task, explaining
highly sophisticated concepts. While some videos showed where oxygenated
blood is stored, others showed how a clogged coronary artery can lead to a
heart attack. Instead of merely dissecting a sheep's heart and labeling
its parts, students' work surpassed the requirements and applied their
knowledge to real-world problems. Students working in teams using
technology enjoyed the learning process more-and having fun translated
into greater enthusiasm for learning. 

In traditional biology classrooms without access to technology, students
normally write a laboratory report about their findings on an individual
basis. Using technology, students working in teams to report their
scientific discoveries ask each other questions, encourage each other and
are more actively involved in their own discovery process. Technology is
the catalyst for helping students learn together and collaborate with
enthusiasm. 
 
 =========================================================
 From the 'New Product News' Electronic News Service on...
 AOL (Keyword = New Products) and Delphi (GO COMP PROD)
 =========================================================
 This information was processed from data provided by the
 company/author mentioned. For additional details, please
 contact them directly at the address/phone# indicated.
 Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
 =========================================================
 All submissions for this service should be addressed to:
 BAKER ENTERPRISES,  20 Ferro Dr,  Sewell, NJ  08080  USA
 Email: rbakerpc@delphi.com  -or- RBakerPC (on AOL/Delphi)
 =========================================================
