GENTRY — The Gentry School District was awarded a second EAST Lab for the 2016-2017 school year, this one for students in the elementary school grades, according to information released by assistant superintendent Judy Winslett. The district received a grant last school year for middle- and high-school students.
"I'm really excited about this opportunity for the younger students and feel that it will be a great addition to the high school program," Winslett said.
The new lab for students in the second through fifth grades is under the supervision of Dorothy Ivey, also Odyssey of the Mind cordinator.
The district applied to be a part of the Environmental and Spatial Technologies Initiative and was awarded an EAST lab for the students at the middle and high schools last year. Patrick Lanford is the instructor over the lab at the high school.
A team from EAST Initiative visited the primary school on Wednesday and Thursday and guided the young students as they unpacked and learned about the new technology before putting it away in the new EAST classroom at the primary school campus. Equipment includes cameras, computers, 3-D printers and more -- much of it software the students can use to accomplish student chosen community projects.
The program allows student teams to determine needs and choose their own community projects to meet those needs and then work together, using the technology made available to them to complete their projects.
Ivey said she is there as a facilitator to guide the students. The projects and the methods and choice of technology students use to accomplish those projects come from the students themselves, she said. Ivey compared it to the way students in Odyssey of the Mind must come up with their own methods and solutions to solve an assigned problem.
In EAST Initiative, students identify a school or community need and come up with their own project and methods to meet that need, using the advanced technology made available to them through the EAST grant. The EAST program's project-based learning model enables students to learn to use some of the latest technology to accomplish projects for the school and community. Among technology made available through EAST grants are geographic information systems, computer programs, cameras, photo and video editing software, global positioning systems and computer-aided design software.
According to Winslett, student interest in the high school and middle school was so high that she expected all available slots to be filled for this year and hopes to have the program in following school years as well.
The EAST Initiative began as the result of the efforts of Tim Stephenson, a former law-enforcement officer turned teacher in Greenbrier, to provide the needed technology to give students hands-on experience with projects and technology which would enable them to learn and apply knowledge and skills the students weren't learning through more traditional methods of education.
His students first built a bridge in a wooded area near the school and then other structures, using the CAD program and expertise of one of the student's father. Seeing the need for technology in the classrooms to enable students to learn and apply skills, Stephenson built up a partnership with businesses and technology companies to provide the technology needed in the classrooms to enable students to learn through hands-on experience.
Student teams are given the opportunity to show their projects each spring at the annual EAST Partnership conference, have their projects judged and receive awards.
The EAST Initiative fits well with the school district's new goal of partnering with business and industry to better prepare students to obtain quality jobs upon graduation from high school, whether or not they choose to pursue a college education.
General News on 08/31/2016