By Herb Woerpel
May 17, 2010, 4:00PM

Through the click of a button, a classroom full of Meadowlawn Elementary fourth-graders were virtually transported to the rim of the Grand Canyon last week. Gazing into its massive beauty, students were able to view the canyon at all angles, looking left, right, up and even down—if they were brave enough.

Along the tour, teacher Amanda Suttorp used an electromagnetic pen to point out several of the Arizona landmark’s features as the camera swooped in and out on the interactive whiteboard. Teaching every step of the way, she told the students that the Grand Canyon was 277 miles long, one mile deep and is separated by the Colorado River, which flows for miles along the bottom of the canyon’s steep, mountainous ridge.

At their teacher’s request, students then grasped their wireless remote devices and began answering questions, reviewing information they’d just learned. After each question, Suttorp revealed the correct answer and displayed classroom results for each question in a bar graph format, showing a visual representation of the number of students who answered correctly and incorrectly.

After the visual voyage to the southwestern United States, students were advised to remove their laptop computers from their desks, log in and take a quiz, defining words such as mesa, valley, desert and more.

The addition of the interactive whiteboards, laptop computers, amplified teacher system and more comes through Kentwood Public Schools’ innovative 21st Century Classroom initiative, which administrators hope will change the way students interact with the real world, better preparing them to be global leaders.

“We are excited about this. This is quality instruction that is leveraging technology and preparing our students to be successful in the 21st century,” said Kentwood Public Schools Superintendent Scott Palczewski. “The future of education is now. If it doesn’t happen here, then it isn’t likely to happen at all.”

The digital whiteboards provide touch-based technology, allowing students to interact with images and video visuals through a connection to the Internet.

Palczewski said the technology will be implemented into every middle school and high school classroom this fall, just in time for the opening of the 2010-2011 academic year. 

The technology add-ons will cost the district $400,000, which will be paid for through At-Risk funding provided by the State of Michigan and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus funds. 

“Technology engages children more than anything else,” said Evan Hordyk, Kentwood Public Schools executive director of instruction and technology. “We are encouraging our kids to be invested in what they are learning and these technology boards allow us to do that.”

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