Math class has come a long way from the protractor.
Take Stone Bridge High School's math department. It just welcomed its first SMART Board — essentially a giant, interactive monitor that ratchets up classroom attention. It's the only one in a Loudoun County high school.
"It makes things make more sense because it's so easy," said sophomore Lary Price. "It's just so cool to watch. You get really into it."
With its many interactive features, the SMART Board helps teachers do "less telling and more teaching," said Betty Korte, the math department chair. She also teaches Algebra 1 and 2.
When teaching a concept like radians, for example, just talking about it makes no sense. But with the SMART Board hooked up to a nearby computer, teachers can illustrate the concept and make it concrete.
"Even I understand it better now," Korte said.
The SMART Board can access a library of programs designed by Stone Bridge math teachers as well as the Internet, essentially converting any classroom into a lab. Teachers can stand up at the front of the class and touch the screen to make graphs and equations appear rather than sitting at a desk clicking through a power-point presentation, or make smeary pictures on the dinosaur of the classroom, the overhead projector.
"The biggest advantage is probably how it makes a more traditional, boring lesson come to life," said Dan Muscarella, a geometry, pre-calculus and math analysis teacher. He estimates that the interaction in the classroom increases tenfold when the SMART Board appears.
At $2,000 a pop, SMART Boards are no small investment. Korte has managed to get the first one nearly paid off already solely through grants and she hopes to bring more in the same way. Once their popularity grows — and in just a few short months, the first SMART Board is in high demand — she hopes the school budget will allow for more.
THE HIGH-TECH SMART Board is not the only way Stone Bridge's math department has embraced technology. A handful of teachers have set up extensive Web sites that post homework, syllabi and reminders to parents.
Kathy Kaplan, an algebra teacher, built her own Web site, www.sbhsmath.com, and now finds it a vital tool for communication.
"The goal here was just to reach more kids," she said. "I tell all my parents, check the Web site. This is also used for parent communication."
The response has been good. Kaplan reports that when she posted an unannounced extra credit opportunity on the site, 50 percent of her students turned it in.
Ann Blocksom started using Blackboard, a Web site builder affiliated with the school system, to communicate with her students. They can even turn in homework online. Her site went online just a few weeks ago, which was not such good timing for students wanting to enjoy a simple snow day or four during February's snowstorms.
"I've been known to e-mail them homework over snow days," Blocksom said.
"I know some people who had to go to an online classroom over the break," said sophomore Felicia Burns.
Blackboard, which requires a graduate class credit for teachers to operate, also has a forum for students who might not feel good about speaking up in class.
"These kids are incredibly comfortable using e-mail and the Web," Blocksom said.
WITH THE Internet and the SMART Board, plus LCD projectors in many classrooms, Stone Bridge's math department seems to have gone high-tech. A peek in a few classrooms, however, will still reveal an occasional teacher bent over an overhead projector in the dark. The school is "at the beginning stage," Korte said.
Still, some things will never change.
"Technology will never replace what teaching is about," Korte said. "This is always number one — the connection with the student."