Eric Dreier

We have adapted [technology use in] the district in many levels, not just the advance sciences, as we've asked kids to use greater amounts of technology. Sometimes those are computer-based problems; of course, in many cases it's the use of probes and other measurement tools. But to use one very specific example—in our Lesson Study project, when we were doing some things with mass and density, we were realizing kids weren't quite getting this right. Well, they had poor tools and by enhancing the technology in the classroom, we were able to give them some specific scales that gave them very accurate measures very quickly. And they were able to progress and come up with far better solutions and, therefore, [better] data and conclusions than they had before. So we were very, very pleased with that. So technology as a whole has acted as a very good catalyst, and it's been able to pull together resources that we had formerly used with teaching skills. And there's no question, in our mind, the evidence is there to say students are learning more.