By Ankur Kayastha ’15

MCPS purchased about 40,000 Chromebooks to distribute among elementary, middle and high schools across the county. Of those, about 10,000 are dedicated to high school classrooms, but not all types of classes. The total cost of the program is a substantial $15 million for the first year, and high school students get the lower end of the distribution deal. The idea is to use the Chromebook devices and other android-based products with the newly-updated Wi-Fi network in schools for a more interactive learning experience.

According to this new policy, only social studies classrooms in high schools are given the Chromebook devices. The rest are allocated to kids in grades three through eight. Not only do the third graders of Montgomery County get to use devices that are too technologically advanced for their age, but also kindergarteners receive android tablets to supplement their coloring book-style learning. What purpose could a multifunctional smart tablet serve to 5 and 6-year-olds besides fun? MCPS intends to provide students with a more “Twenty-first century learning space,” (according to the MCPS website), yet kids who are barely able to read and write clearly should not be the ones to take advantage of the technology that they think is a product of ‘magic.’

Elementary schools get the better bet, sure, but zeroing in on high school, the Chromebooks are strictly given to social studies classes. And the need for the most advanced technology should not be for classes that teach about the past. Aside from the irony, history and government classes utilize the internet and visual aids less than most other academic classes in county curriculum. This is not to say that they would not get any use out of the Chromebooks, it’s just that it really is not pressing to have in social studies classrooms. Instead STEM classes could and should be the main focus of this program, potentially changing the course of learning for the better within these courses.

Within STEM classes, visual representation and interactivity is key to learning. In calculus, for example, use of videos and graphical representations is vital to learning the basic concepts of infinity. In engineering, rendering of images and designs could be a noticeable, positive change due to incorporating Chromebooks into these classes. Even in the field of biology, using the Chromebooks to blast (magnify) genes from genome databases in a lab could be useful and engaging. Or, it can be used in a chemistry lab.

In history and government, the classes rely more on lectures and PowerPoints. If a timeline is needed to show some span of history, the Promethean board would be enough to present it to the entire class. Basically, the only thing that history and government classes could use Chromebooks for is as a headrest or overpriced paperweight. They would be better put to use in STEM classes.