EETT

**Click on this picture of the microprocessor used in our experiments to learn more about it.** The E2T2 grant is a $65,000.00 grant that was given to our school through a state program. Its purpose is to encourage the development of classroom technology in creative lessons called "assured experiences." The process by which our school was awarded the grant began with a team of four teachers and staff members who planned and wrote extensively for the required application process. Marji Roy, Kelly Knots, Annie Perkins, and Rick Rossi began this in the early spring of 2008.

Each grade level teacher on the team choose a specialized project to be used in science classrooms for the following year. We then wrote our portions of the grant and submitted them to Marji Roy, who coordinated these efforts and finished the application. It was submitted to the Connecticut Department of Education for review and was accepted for us to use in the 2008/09 school year.

Thanks to these efforts, the seventh grade science program will now enjoy a microprocessor laboratory that can be used to build specialized equipment for lab experiments. This equipment will be based on a tiny computer called a STAMP that has            been specifically designed for use with students. Students will be able to actually build equipment such as a temperature sensor/data logger with these computers and a few components. It will allow students to learn basic electrical engineering and programing skills. Come by the room and take a look at it.

This grant also directly benefits the whole school because it allows us to buy expensive equipment such as a classroom set of laptop computers. This equipment is vital to the implementation of the grant, but is also shared with other classrooms. While the grant provides equipment that is not a normal part of our budget, it also provides extensive training for teachers. This allows us to learn new ways to use technology with our students. This training is open to everyone and also benefits all of the classrooms in our school.

It is important to remember that grants are gifts. They cost the town nothing and do not have to be repaid. In addition, the materials and equipment purchased by the grant is ours to keep when the grant period is over.

Thanks everyone for your efforts!

**Here are some of the assured experiences that have already taken place in our classroom:**
1. Building a temperature sensor for use in a lab concerning the relationship between body temperature and respiratory rate in cold blooded animals.

2. Building a data logger that was carried by a marathon runner to collect information about body temperature and ambient temperature during the New York Marathon.

3. Creating a computer game that requires you to use (X,Y) coordinates to catch an object on the computer screen.

4. An independent student project involving the designing an building of a prototype temperature sensor that warns hearing/sight impaired people of dangerously hot materials.

5. An independent student project involving the design of a mini-cart powered by servo motors.

Look for these future projects in our classroom:
1. Building a homeostasis chamber that is used in a contest to see which teams can maintain thermal homeostasis while our computer graphs their process.

2. Creating digital flutes for the spring concert.

3. Building a weather station/data logger for our class trip to Bluff Point.