Laura Blankenship - Computer Science Coordinator Computer Science Coordinator Laura Blankenship, Ph.D. is always looking for new ways to engage Baldwin's students in this exciting and ever-evolving field. From the Creative Computing Club and Robotics Club to independent study in web design, Baldwin's Middle School and Upper School students have myriad facets of technology to explore. When she's not teaching or supervising the Creative Computing or Robotics Clubs, Laura is in the classroom helping fellow faculty integrate technology into the curriculum. "Working with the teachers is really fun because they have great ideas," says Laura. "Faculty members are utilizing blogs, wikis and presentation tools like Prezi, and are experimenting with innovative ways to use their SmartBoards." To keep faculty on the cutting-edge of technology, Laura offers office hours and runs technology workshops to generate new ideas. Along with Baldwin's Academic Technology Committee, Laura has launched an annual full-day "technology retreat" during which faculty create and moderate workshops to share best practices in various areas of technology in the classroom. These faculty learning sessions translate to the classroom, where students are more engaged and learn to leverage technology in lessons from history to English and everything in between. Inspired by a visit to MIT's Media Lab, Laura ran a "Fabricating Technology" course in which Middle School students connected technology with sewing – making felt bracelets that light up when they're snapped closed and fabric elephants that light up when they touch. Focusing on solutions to combat the under-representation of women in math, science and technology, Laura spoke at the 2011 National Coalition of Girls' Schools STEM Symposium and regularly attends industry conferences to generate ideas to bring back to the classroom. "I've found that embracing technology and computer science has resulted in increased interest, collaboration and innovation from students – from game programming to developing smartphone applications," said Laura. "Keeping up with the latest technology also provides an opportunity for me to connect with and learn with my students in a unique way."

Cynthia Schmalzried - Math Department Head Technology use in the mathematics classroom is dedicated first and foremost to illustrating concepts, so that students better understand the reasons behind the techniques that they learn. We have a Smartboard in each classroom, allowing for animated graphics and dynamic visual presentations. We use software packages such as Algebra in Motion, Geometer’s Sketchpad, and Calculus in Motion to demonstrate ideas, such as forming a solid by revolving a region about an axis. Girls also are encouraged to experiment with the software. Geometer’s Sketchpad, for example, can be transformed into a virtual “learning environment,” in which a student tries out her conjectures regarding two-dimensional shapes before encountering them as theorems to be formally proved. Students in Middle School use technology in the Math Resource Center to round out the concepts in dynamic ways. They are introduced to the use of spreadsheets, not just to present material in a table format, but to show algebra in action, incorporating formulas that shape the data into the solution we require. Prior to our Grade VIIII Physics course, students work in Math Resource classes with a motion detector and a calculator that convey their motion visually with a position vs. time graph. After some exposure to graphing calculators in Middle School, students use these daily in Upper School, and teachers use a Smartboard version in class. The student does the work, putting the equations into a form that can be graphed by the calculator and interpreting the visual display appropriately. Throughout the Upper School, students learn increasingly sophisticated calculator programming. Programming is the brain work; the calculator does the tedious calculations, and the student must decide how to present the result. Technology is not an end in itself, nor is it primarily a labor-saving device, but it can certainly aid in the understanding of concepts and the presentation of solutions. The explanations and logical reasoning involved are still the responsibility of the student, who is an active, not passive, participant. This is why it is even more important to teach problem-solving and step-by-step presentation of solutions, and this is the focus of our mathematics classes. Cynthia Schmalzried participated in the National Science Foundation-funded Visual Geometry Project, where she helped develop the concept for Geometer's Sketchpad.

Laurie Wright - Grade VIII Math Teacher Math teacher Laurie Wright – a Baldwin alumna herself and a 35-year Baldwin teaching veteran – implemented particularly innovative uses for the smartboard in 2006. Laurie leverages smartboards as collaboration tools for students, and has seen a significant shift in the speed with which students grasp particular concepts by supplementing audio instruction with interactive digital information. From geometry formulas to counting loose change, the “foreign language” of math – made up of characters and figures – is more easily decoded for many students with the use of a smartboard.   In addition to her classroom work, Laurie has been speaking on integrating technology in the classroom – both the pros and cons – since the early 1980s. She recalls the days when Baldwin’s entire Lower School had just one computer, in contrast to the sophisticated computer labs present today.

Diane Senior - Upper School English Teacher Students use a wide variety of media in Diane Senior's English classroom. They learn to select the media that suits their purpose, including presentation tools, movie making tools, video cameras, voice recording, text editing, animation and more. They are learning to communicate collaboratively across networks; how to influence their audience; how to access and assess information; critical thinking and problem solving; exercising their imagination. Sample 2010-2011 projects that illustrate technology’s integration with our English curriculum include: As a culminating project for the first semester’s readings and as a way to work with a concept, express personal ideas, be creative and use technology in an engaging manner, Grade X students created dream media essays. Using The Great Gatsby and Their Eyes Were Watching God as inspiration, the girls drafted a narration of their dreams and transformed them into video montages. Grade VII students in the English Elective "Global Perspectives in Contemporary Literature" produced videos that demonstrate how people from the texts we read – and in reality – survive as they pursue achievement. Students were asked to address the global achievement race, pressure on youth, global identity and how to find their place in the world.” Diane Senior presented her dream media essay project at the 2011 Smart Board Users Conference.