Huge leaps in the world of technology in the past decade have enhanced our daily lives. They provide services in the news, education and entertainment industry.

?I like the TI system because it helps compare answers with other students so that we can more effectively learn the curriculum, like when we graphed the Google logo on the SmartBoard in algebra II,? Ben Dang, ?08, said. ?Each student only got three graphs each so the whole class had to work together.?

The wireless TI-Navigator system, a network that allows TI graphing calculators to communicate with a computer, speeds up lessons and help to test students through a ?Quick Poll?, a small quiz done on the calculator. The computer can then post the information from the calculators on the SmartBoard. TI also allows the teacher to view each student?s answers and correct them in front of the entire class to view and know common mistakes to avoid.

The calculators also let students explore the effect of changing a single value in a complex equation or speed up a process that on paper takes minutes. In a short series of keystrokes a previous answer can be called up and edited or reformatted for a new like problem.

Through the jointed use of the SmartBoard and the TI-Navigators, Mike Fenton, algebra II teacher, instructs his high school math classes to become well versed with the use of new technology.

?Students will be hard pressed to find a career that does not regularly utilize technology in some way, and this trend will only grow stronger in the years to come,? Fenton said. ?The mathematics classroom is an excellent place to help students become more familiar and comfortable with a sampling of these technologies.?

The SmartBoard creates extra space as a computer-integrated whiteboard where a teacher can download computer files and the write on them extemporaneously. With the SmartBoard Fenton displays an enlarged section of his daily class notes. These notes are also downloadable from the Vault, on the Fresno Christian website, and provide a standard path for the day?s lesson.

The Internet is also integrated through the SmartBoard.
?I like using the SmartBoard with the Internet because we play games, Kristen Amerine, ?07, said, ?like Set [a strategy and matching card game] and we can access cool programs like Hot Math.?

In addition to these features, SmartBoard can be updated on the spot for instant news briefs in classes like journalism and has been incorporated to teach students with the latest tools for math.

?This afternoon Superintendent Tim Wilkins borrowed the SmartBoard for a faculty meeting,? Fenton said. ?I realized very quickly how reliant I have become on it for my day to day teaching.?

Without the SmartBoard Fenton is limited in his teaching ability because he is so used to its functionality.

Although Fenton is blessed with the SmartBoard, other math teachers, Josh Tosland and Dr. Robert Arnold have yet to gain access to the new technology.

?I think a SmartBoard would be beneficial to every class including mine,? Tosland said. ?I think that it could help in a number of ways. One is that it facilitates a more effective learning environment through interaction with the students, access to numerous programs, and organizational efficiency.?

By the 2006-07 school year the administration hopes to purchase two new Smartboards, used primarily for the math department but also to be incorporated in other classrooms. The money for these two expensive pieces of equipment, that cost about $10,000 each, will be drawn from the schools technology fund.

To read about online school tools read the Sept. 16 article ?Online programs empower community? by Julianne Erkenbrecher on this newspaper.

To access the Vault, go online to www.fresnochristian.com, scroll to the ?Classroom? icon and click on The Vault.