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Sarasota News Leader October 5, 2012 came from the Faulhaber Foundation, Hewl- ett-Packard and other national organizations. They represent part of a $2.5 million plan by the Gulf Coast Community Foundation to sup- port science and technology in schools in both Sarasota and Charlotte counties. The principal feature of these new classrooms is simple: a series of workstations with space for four students each at a semicircular table. The table has an interactive 24-inch, touch- screen computer. It is connected to Hewl- ett-Packard wireless graphing calculators, for example, as well as digital probes and micro- scopes. The curriculum calls for using these devices in experiments and projects — in es- sence transforming otherwise potentially dull lectures into pretty exciting hands-on work. "I really think it's cool," said student Christina Strates on the School Board website. "We get Page 39 to learn in a different way. We get to interact with one another. Learning this way is more fun than reading a textbook. We learn to use the technology at the same time we learn the schoolwork." The teacher, no longer sitting at the front of a room facing the students at their desks, in- teracts with them in groups or monitors their computers with her own wireless pad. "The Classrooms of Tomorrow are set up to be student-centered," said Venice Middle School math teacher Katelynn Albert-Hefner on the School Board website "[They encour- age] teachers to promote higher-level thinking skills. We are providing students the strategies they need to be successful. The kids love it." Perhaps the most significant aspect of this "Classrooms of Tomorrow" project was the Experiments become a lot more interactive with the new equipment. Photos courtesy Sarasota County Public Schools