Education fair shows off district's higher tech

The high school gymnasium was abuzz with activity late last week, as parents and students of all ages descended on the first annual Education Fair.

Open to the public, the event drew in visitors with door prizes and refreshments, and drew their eyes to 20 different tables and displays that highlight what's going on with Wrangell Public School District. Presentations included the schools' Spanish and Tlingit language programs, migrant education, music and other arts programs, and the annual LeConte Glacier survey.

"This is a great opportunity to show off all the things that are happening," said educator Mikki Angerman, who helped put the event together. She pointed out that most if not all of these programs were made possible through the support of parents and other volunteers from the wider community.

A number of school staff had recently returned from the Alaska Society for Technology in Education (ASTE) conference in Anchorage the preceding week, so tech was one of the big talking points of the February 23 fair.

Angerman showed off the sleek Cube 3D-printer she won as a door prize during the conference. Her goal is to use it to introduce students at Evergreen Elementary School to the technology. Students at the middle and high schools have already been using printers of their own for several years, and the devices have expansive applications in industrial fields and beyond.

WPSD information technology director Matt Gore explained 3D printing is just one facet of the wider array of technology available to students. They already have school-issued laptops and tablet devices, which play an increasing number of roles in the classroom.

To keep up on grades and courses, for example, Gore noted that in the past year students and parents alike have had a 96.7-percent engagement in online accounts using PowerSchool. Content for games, presentations and other events have also been made available for online streaming, and new applications and programs are finding new avenues through which to encourage students' interest.

Social studies teacher Jim Brooks demonstrated one such program, Kahoot! The game-based learning platform is free to use and extensively customizable, allowing Brooks to create interactive reviews of class material ahead of tests.

"It's kind of a game show in class," Gore explained.

"The kids love it," Brooks added. He's been making use of the program for the past year.

The possibilities of virtual reality headsets are also becoming reality. While a group of students crowded in to watch a demonstration showing off a roller coaster simulator, Gore explained the technology can be used to take virtual field trips. The school already has a Google Daydream device, a headset which can accommodate certain smartphones and makes use of a hand controller.

Gore said one such virtual trip in the making is a trip to the Smithsonian Institution museums in Washington D.C. Teacher Virginia Oliver will be headed there on a separate trip later this year, but will bring along a 360-degree camera. Eventually, that footage will provide for the opportunity for classes back in Wrangell to experience that virtually.

"It's a really powerful engagement tool," Gore pointed out. "It takes them somewhere they can't go, living on an island in Alaska."

Other potential subjects would be the high school's LeConte survey, which could in a sense share the experience with other students elsewhere. But the footage could also be shelved for later use, in the event such trips are no longer possible due to budget cuts or other unforeseeable problems.

The technology is just taking off, and was one of the highlights of this year's ASTE conference. Among school districts in the state, Gore noted Wrangell was the first to be making use of a set in the classroom.

"We're quite ahead in this sense," he said.

Students have also been encouraged to explore more physical technologies, with between six and a dozen meeting irregularly for an ad hoc robotics club. Industrial arts teacher Drew Larrabee has been guiding the group, and at last week's fair showed off some of the units they had been tinkering with. One was a "balance bot," which cannot stand on its own but makes use of gyroscopes and algorithms to upright and stabilize itself.

"We want to start coding clubs and robotics clubs," Gore explained. The group is currently garnering interest among the student body, with the intent of formalizing a program.

WPSD has also been encouraging local youth to use their tech know-how to maintain their schools' gadgets. An online help desk has been set up, allowing students and teachers alike to put in support requests by email, setting up a virtual "ticket." So long as the issue isn't of a confidential nature, five OJT students then pick up the items as they can and make some fixes.

Gore pointed out the program gives participating students an opportunity to solve problems in the real world, while also assisting with upkeep for the district. They learn soft skills useful in a workplace environment too, like documenting tasks and conducting follow-up to projects. The logging system also helps the schools' IT department keep up with its various technologies.

"This gives us a tracking mechanism to see what we're even doing ourselves," he said.

Other projects in the offing will be preparation of a digital library in collaboration with the public library, and an upcoming Science, Technology, Education, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) two-day digital learning course later this month.

The school system has also been encouraging girls to take greater interest in the oft male-dominated fields of engineering. At the "Women in Science" table, Heather Howe encouraged kids and adults alike to check out a variety of tuning forks, microscopes and scientific whatsits. As a bonus, she also showed them how to transform their smartphones into microscopes on the go, by placing single drops of water on the lens of the devices' cameras, increasing the zoom.

"It's a really exciting time," Gore said.

Parents and students also got to check out advances in biology, with the elementary's E.A.T.S. Garden program showing off progress on its new greenhouse and collecting boxtops in order to help pay for its walls and roof. Jenn Miller explained her students were well on their way to raising the $5,000 they need, most recently with $350 raised through seed sales last month. They're already preparing sprouts for a garden plant sale later in April.