Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO

Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO

KEY BISCAYNE — Each school year, St. Agnes Academy focuses on improving the academic curriculum, facilities and resources offered at the school. In keeping with this goal, St. Agnes has integrated the latest in technological resources for the 2011-2012 school year. The school has upgraded to new computers with flat-screen monitors campus-wide, and is currently upgrading the infrastructure to manage an ever-increasing demand on network and internet resources. But the most well-received technological tools implemented this year have been two iPad carts for classroom use.

Each cart contains 26 iPads, and is checked out by teachers on a day-to-day basis, to be used for specific lessons with their classes. Already, in this first month of school, teachers have been lining up to check out the iPad carts. And the students, from preschoolers to middle-schoolers, have been very eager and excited to work with the iPads.

Over the summer, St. Agnes faculty received iPad training in order to make the most of the educational applications available for classroom use. There are a myriad of apps that the teachers are already using in all grade levels and subject areas.

For example, in middle school science class, students learned about proper lab safety procedures by creating a digital story with the Storyrobe app. In their Web 2.0 class, students used the ComicLife app to create comic strips tied into their history lesson about life in Mesopotamia. Middle school students have also used the iPads to take virtual tours of German concentration camps, and to do research for their Future City project.

In the elementary grades, students have been using iPad apps in their reading groups, to improve word recognition, spelling and reading fluency. In math classes, they use apps such as math bingo to reinforce adding and subtracting at a faster pace.

Even the preschoolers have gotten to use the iPads in their classes. Students in PreK-4 have used the Alphabet Tracing app, where they practice tracing letters to gain greater letter recognition and fine motor skills.

Overall, the iPads have been greata educational resources and “hands-on” tools for everyone at St. Agnes Academy. The teachers love using the iPads in their classrooms, and the students love using them to learn.