Maricopa Wells earns award, computers for use of technology

Maricopa Wells Middle School will have some new computers available for students after the school recently garnered a third-place finish in a statewide information technology program.

Teachers Robyn Rice and Keith Gibson submitted the presentation to the IT in Schools Achievement Awards. “You had to show a project in which you had used technology and talk about how it would have been better if you would have had more technology,” Rice said.

Maricopa Wells’ presentation highlighted two years’ worth of students’ projects on creating model cities, and the third-place finish earned the school about $10,000 worth of new technology, including eight computers and a wireless connection.

“We’re so excited about having the computers for the kids and being able to give them an advantage,” said Rice, who added the equipment should be available for the 150 students in the Future City program by the start of next school year.

“It’s going to be so amazing for them to have access to their own computer,” she said. “Right now we have one lab that we share with all 750 students.”

The IT in Schools Achievement Awards program, sponsored by Chandler company Able Information Technologies, rewards schools for accomplishments and achievements stemming from information technology implementations. A release on the program’s Web site (www.awards4it.com) said “Maricopa Wells Middle School’s submission caught the attention of the judges because it incorporated creative use of technology and many curriculum areas.”

Rice, who teaches eighth-grade math, said the students used a single interactive whiteboard to conduct vertex-edge graphing – finding a route in the cheapest and most efficient manner – to plan out utilities for their cities. They all collaborated to create one city built to scale last year in the Miniature Cities project, but with the switch this year to the Future City program, each group built a model but couldn’t create to scale because of having to share the same equipment.

Despite the limited access to technology, one group of students – Aaron Tamaddon, Alexander Vu and Donovan Cruz – won a sponsor’s award in January at the Arizona Region Future City Competition for their use of application of design for quality of air, water and life in their model.

“With what we’ve learned this year and with the (added) technology, we should be able to really have some amazing projects next year,” Rice said.

Photo courtesy of Robyn Rice