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Photos by Nicole McPhate.
Technology is a bigger part of our lives today than it has ever been before. With laptops and smart phones, computers are more mobile than ever, and are a constant part of most people’s lives. Arkadelphia High School has decided to take advantage of that by participating in a program called New Tech, in which students participate in project-based learning revolving heavily around the use of computer technology.
“New Tech is an established program that we’re taking part in,” said engineering instructor Bud McMillion. “Its main purpose is to help kids prepare for college, and later on the real world, through projects and hands on experiences.”
The thought behind this is that the projects will force the students to become more involved. The projects used in the New Tech program are considered to be more stimulating than pencil and paper tests, and raise the stakes for students to perform well.
“When I give a normal lecture, maybe 60 percent of the students in the room are actually paying attention,” McMillion said. “However, everybody loves to get together with their friends and talk out a solution to a problem. Aside from that, the stakes are higher. We ordered a modeling plastic, as well as the ingredients for soap, to use with a 3D printer. It was expensive, so they only had one shot at it. The soap was supposed to be blue, but some of it came out black, and some of the negative molds wound up leaking. After it was all said and done, they had to give a presentation about what they did.”
On top of the nontraditional teaching methods, the New Tech program also uses technologies that might not be available in a normal classroom.
“We’re sponsored by Alcoa,” McMillion said. “They’ve payed for us to be able to give each of our students a laptop to use. We’re also trying to up the schools bandwidth, which is supposed to make the Internet five times faster than it is right now. We’ve started to let students use their smart phones as well, as long as they’re using them correctly.”
McMillion as well as his students involved believe that the program has been a success so far.
“I think that these projects will help us out in the real world,” said Dustyn Spinks, a freshman at Arkadelphia High School. “One project involved all of us living a mock life in the post school world. We had to ‘apply’ for a job, being told whether we would have been hired or not, and then given a number that would’ve been our expected pay. Then, as a group, we had to get a house, pay bills, and budget everything out. One thing that lots of people complain about is never being taught how to do that stuff, so i think it’ll really be helpful.”
Overall, the students and faculty involved believe that New Tech will be highly beneficial to any student who participates.
“I believe that in ten years, all classes will operate this way,” McMillion said. “We’re ahead of the game.”
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