According to the survey, each week, 81 percent of elementary students in Virginia public schools use a computer at school at least once, 76 percent go on the Internet to look something up, 53 percent use an interactive whiteboard in a classroom, and nearly one-third use digital photography or video equipment. Moreover, 89.3 percent are relying on these technologies to practice or review topics in assorted school subjects, 80 percent use it once or more each week to prepare for standardized tests, and 60 percent use it to take tests or quizzes. And in an interesting reflection on teacher strategy, the survey also found that more than 80 percent of students use this technology to work cooperatively with other students, often on cross-disciplinary projects. However, it’s important to note that all of this data has been self-reported and therefore not verified by any outside party. Nevertheless, according to Julie Mersiowsky of the Virginia Office of Educational Technology, these grade-school students are using high-tech tools to solve real-world problems, create media or Web-based presentations, conduct online research, and learn to visually represent abstract concepts. Falls Church: A Premier Public Miniature Located in Northern Virginia, the Falls Church City Public Schools (FCCPS) District calls itself the “premier small school system in the nation.” It also has the honor of being among the tiniest, with four schools serving 1,900 students. There are computer labs and computer carts in all four Falls Church facilities, and the system is gradually putting interactive whiteboards into its two elementary schools. Looking at some of the current numbers, Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School has 85 computers in four labs and nine mobile carts with 145 laptops, while George Mason High School has seven labs with 25 computers each and one laptop cart, according to FCCPS Director of Communications Karen Acar. “Yes, Falls Church is investing in technology,” said Jed Frei, a third-grade teacher at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School who uses an interactive whiteboard in his classroom. “If you’re teaching math, you can project images of coins onto the screen, say, ‘Show me 36 cents,’ and a student can come up to the board and drag coins to a cash register. It’s visual and tactile and students are very engaged by it.” He added: “A class can generate a story together — the teacher types it and projects it onto the screen, and a student can come up and underline the verbs or put a hand on a word and move the word around.” Frei also has a video-based Elmo projector in his classroom, which he said is useful for projecting science experiments onto a screen so that everyone can see them, or for editing a student paper together as a class. In addition, the school system is piloting an “Angel” online learning management system in all four of its schools that uses free software and requires a password for access. It’s similar to the expensive Blackboard brand used to create a virtual learning environment at the college level. There are different ways that “Angel” is being deployed at each Falls Church school — from typed-in discussions and homework that can be posted online to a secure, internal e-mail service that teaches younger students how to exchange e-mail appropriately. Frei says incoming students get smarter about such technology with each passing year. “I’ve been teaching six years. Four or five years ago you had to walk them through new tech slowly, step by step,” he said. “Now you do it once, they watch and then do it. I see it as something that benefits them and makes the classroom richer. It better prepares them for the future.” Langley: Cutting-Edge Savvy The Langley School is a coeducational private institution serving 470 students in grades pre-kindergarten through eight on a nine-acre campus in McLean, Va. Its energetic director of technology and communication, Lee Nelms, has developed an astonishing array of educational experiences for Langley students that showcase cutting-edge technology tools. “There’s a lot of nervousness about educational technology among parents and teachers in this country,” Nelms said, citing some of the common complaints: “Safety is a huge concern — cyber-bullying. Some parents are afraid that it’s [anti-intellectual]. Computers get lumped with passive television watching. Others are not comfortable with the technology itself and find it threatening.” Her empathy for such concerns has helped Nelms develop programs that address some of the criticisms while also stretching learning boundaries, often creating initiatives that resemble simple playtime but involve sophisticated tools used by the most tech-savvy adults. For instance, Langley teachers use portable, flat-tablet computers that look like old-fashioned slates, but all the tablets incorporate Skype technology, the same software that permits free international phone calls over the Internet. The school also has three computer labs with 52 Apple computers and 19 PCs, as well as a variety of computing devices, including laptops and other small wireless devices. The high-tech push at Langley begins at an early age. For example, 4-year-olds learn to program tiny robots called “Bee-Bots,” floor robots in the shape of, what else, a bee that children can direct through the push of a button. Meanwhile, all grade levels take part in “Read Around the Planet,” an annual live videoconferencing session that links to a partner school in the United States or overseas. Each class has to research a project to prepare for the broadcast. Last year, a class of 3-year-olds performed “The Three Little Pigs” when they connected with schools in North Carolina and Texas. Among the older students, fourth-graders dressed like historical figures and challenged their partner students in Ohio to guess who they were. During the coming year, students studying Spanish will videoconference twice a month with students in Peru, while second-graders studying science will take part in a NASA videoconference titled “Our Magnificent Sun.” Langley also has a media studio where students and teachers create their own films and live television programming. “It’s a separate room, painted all black, including the ceiling, with stage lighting, three cameras and a teleprompter,” Nelms said. It even has green-screen technology that can make students look as if they’re broadcasting from the streets of New York or the face of the moon. As part of its social studies curriculum, students in grades six through eight produce weekly newscasts in the media studio, with fourth-graders providing the content. Films of the newscasts are edited and then posted online. More than the mere gee-whiz factor though, this media studio has generated a 65-page script about American history, a filmed fashion show with narration in French, and second-graders singing songs about sun spots to prepare for the NASA videoconference. Safety in Cyberspace: Advice for Parents Parents need to be proactive when it comes to the use of the Internet by children and teenagers, and they need to start “earlier and earlier” to protect them, advised Sameer Hinduja, a professor of criminal justice at Florida Atlantic University. Hinduja and Justin Patchin of the University of Wisconsin have just published a book titled “Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying.” One new development in this still-emerging field, Hinduja told The Washington Diplomat, is a bullying risk for children playing videogames online with players across the country or across the world, in which name-calling can occur, and younger children in particular can be confused or upset by it. Passwords to Web sites are another area of concern. “If you ask a group of children how many know their best friends’ passwords, half the hands go up,” Hinduja said. “In our training sessions we ask children, ‘What could your worst enemy do if they had your password?’ and the light bulb comes on.” Hinduga suggests that parents demonstrate a friendly interest in their children’s online activities and discuss appropriate behavior — from social sites like Facebook and MySpace to texting on the cell phone. “Ask if you can see their MySpace page; ask if they know the people who have access to it or have ever met up with any of them. Teach children to keep their passwords secret and teach them not to share personal information through Web sites,” he said. Carolyn Cosmos is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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