Sponsored by JTM Concepts, INC.

"Innovative Solutions"

May 28, 2003 12:35 AM
By Robin J. Youngblood, Staff writer

ROCK ISLAND -- Like a scene straight out of the 1970s, Rock Island-Milan school board members, district administrators and teachers sat in the high school library Tuesday night with 3-D glasses perched on their noses.

Instead of watching a movie, they were watching a demonstration of how students will learn through 3-D technology from JTM Concepts Inc.

The Rock Island company developed a 3-D program for
the district's students to learn such subjects as biology, chemistry and anatomy.

About 250 biology students saw a demonstration of the technology earlier Tuesday, watching an inner ear dissected using only a mouse and a keyboard.

According to the three teachers that performed the demonstration, the students were enthralled and attentive.

``At one time, we had 60 students'' in the room, said high school earth science and biology teacher Lori Anderson, ``and they were all engrossed, so it was very, very successful.''

The district is in the process of applying for grant money to fund the project so it can be running in classrooms this fall.

In other business, the board:

-- Learned from superintendent David Markward that the 2003-04 school-year budget
could have a lower deficit than originally thought. More state funding could ease the projected $4.7 million deficit. Illinois legislators are currently working on the state budget.

-- Approved requiring high school students to wear gym uniforms to physical-education class, starting with the 2003-04 school year. The uniforms will be a gray shirt and red shorts with the school's logo on it, will cost $9 for the set, and will be available in the bookstore.

The uniforms will cost the district about $4,000 to $5,000, said gym teacher Alan Dasso, and will be paid for through fundraisers and donations from the PTA, Booster Club and development funds.

-- Voted to pay Raymond Professional Group $2,880 to do mold sampling at the high school.

-- Approve purchasing computers for Grant, Hawthorne-Irving, Lincoln and Frances Willard elementaries for $115,062, to be paid for by a federal Reading Excellence Act grant. A wireless, Apple iBook mobile lab of 20 computers -- $25,659 in all -- for Edison Junior High is another pending purchase that will be paid for through federal Title I funds.

Staff writer Robin Youngblood can be reached at (309) 786-6441, ext. 257, or by e-mail at robiny@qconline.com

Copyright 2002, Moline Dispatch Publishing Co.

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