In keeping with SPA’s vision, teachers in the Lower School strive to inspire students with an enduring love of learning—including an appreciation for technology and its many uses.
Technological literacy is part of students’ learning starting in kindergarten, when students begin using computers in a lab setting. Students in grades K–4 have weekly classes in the computer lab. They participate in activities and projects that introduce technology-related skills. These activities also reinforce the content of classroom learning. Besides weekly labs, students in grade 5 also use mobile laptop carts that travel to their classrooms, laying the foundation for a one-to-one laptop experience.
In addition to their weekly lab experience, students in grades K–2 have access to classroom laptops. Third and fourth graders have a second laptop lab available to them.
Technology Content and Skills Development
Technology skills addressed at each grade level are framed by the ISTE National Education Technology Standards (NETS). Technology instruction also is connected to classroom learning as much as possible. Teachers shape their students’ computer experiences in varied ways, but all SPA technology instruction includes:
- Activities that promote language development through reports, writing activities, and desktop-publishing activities.
- Math-related activities that involve quantifying, labeling, and measuring.
- Activities involving collecting and recording data and then interpreting and representing it.
- Research activities involving online information—and encouraging students to compare online material with other sources of information.
- Computer experiences oriented around multimedia creativity (involving pictures, sound, clip art, text, visual transitions).
- An introduction to Scratch, a new programming language used to create interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art. Scratch is designed to help young people develop 21st-century learning skills, while gaining a deeper understanding of the process of design.