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April 27, 2005 - Milan district to be a pilot for Classroom Cubed program

 

Learning in 3-D is one of the newest ways to learn, and Rock Island students will be among the first to try it.

The Illinois State Board of Education awarded JTM Concepts of Rock Island a $200,000 grant to pilot Classroom Cubed in Rock Island-Milan schools. The school board accepted the grant and a contract to run the technology at Tuesday's meeting.

"It's great for the district to be a pilot," said Jim Gremanis of JTM, and the district will be on the cutting edge of technology.

Classroom Cubed was introduced in Rock Island in the spring of 2003. It now officially will be piloted in a few classrooms during the 2005-06 school year.

Several teachers, students and lawmakers have seen the 3-D program already and have given its innovation praise.

"The kids are very receptive to it," said Rock Island High School science teacher Lori Anderson. They've used it to study such subjects as volcanoes, tectonic plates, and the timeline of the history of the earth, and the students usually have feedback about how to make the lesson better, she added. "They usually have ideas about how to improve things. You could do it this way or that way.' They have great ideas."

Classroom Cubed also is evolutionary so its lessons, or modules, can be expanded and serve students at every grade level.

During the pilot, the district will test students using Classroom Cubed and submit the results back to the state in hopes of getting more money, Mr. Gremanis said.

From previous tests, retention of taught material is very high and students' attention is improved over traditional teaching methods. That was demonstrated in October 2003, when classrooms at Thomas Jefferson and Hawthorne-Irving elementaries learned lessons in 3-D.

Using Classroom Cubed in vocational technology and industrial training also has been discussed.

In the future, Mr. Gremanis said he hopes to expand the pilot program -- with the state's permission -- to junior high school students who will be followed from the eighth grade and then into high school.

"I really want to catch kids up," Mr. Gremanis said about using Classroom Cubed in the classroom. "They see it. They understand it."