Learning from the Pros
Students in New Carrollton, Maryland have received a new jolt of energy and money from Hewlett-Packard and the Washington Wizards. Four students in the suburban Washington, D.C. school received more than $80,000 worth of HP equipment as a result of their successful application to the HP Digital Assist Education Grant competition. To win the competition, students needed to show how technology allowed them to learn a complex topic with greater ease and demonstrate that lesson plan in video form. For many students there is no tougher discipline than science, but with the help of technology, the award recipients were more than capable.
According to the Washington Post, Â eighth-graders Raynal Bell and Amber Booth, both 13, and seventh-graders Phyllis Arthur-Williams and Marquette Freeman, both 12, produced and filmed their video, “Science and Basketball”, to demonstrate the concept of kinetic energy and specifically whether the transfer of kinetic energy is related to the mass of the object. (Kinetic energy is the extra energy an object has because of motion.)
Antwan Jamison of the Washington Wizards visited the students at school to let them know they had received the award. Although exciting in itself, this award provides yet another example of technology’s ability to bridge difficult issues with a student’s desire to learn. Now, with the smarts of these students, their classmates will be able to harness that potential as well!