Turning on the Smart Classroom with a Visualizer

Media and Methods, Sep/Oct 2005

What does the "Smart Classroom" look like? Take a look at what they are doing at Chaminade High School in Mineola, NY. The school has adopted what they call their "Smart Classroom" initiative, which integrates new media technologies into every single course. At the core of the school's "Smart Classrooms" are Canon visualizers, also known as document cameras, and Canon multimedia projectors integrated with DVD/VCR/receiver units, and notebook computers.

Visualizers are used in classrooms to zoom in and capture intricate details of any kind of tangible item, including fossils, art illustrations, maps, slides, X-ray film, algae or other field specimens. Nearly any object that can fit on top of the visualizers' base can be projected onto a screen for everyone to view. The items placed on the visualizer can be three-dimensional, two-dimensional, solid, or clear.

Images captured by the visualizer can be shown on a video monitor or, as in the case of Chaminade High School, be enlarged by as much as six feet or more when displayed on a screen by an LCD projector. Teachers can project still or motion images during classroom presentations to help students stay focused on a lesson or to emphasize a specific point. Using the visualizer, the teacher or a student can zoom into particular features of a displayed image, enlarge specific portions of the image, and even store images into the memory of the visualizer.

Smart Science Classes

In Brother Benjamin Knapp's science classes, the use of Canon visualizers and projectors means that fragile items such as fossil samples do not have to be passed around the classroom. The visualizer is used to zoom in on a sample fossil of sea life from a rock found along a river. These fossils found in sedimentary rock along the Mississippi River show students firsthand that tropical seas were present over Minnesota during the Ordovician Period. Projectors are used in class to deliver PowerPoint presentations containing photographs of other fossils. Bro. Knapp creates these presentations on his notebook computer using Power Point, which allows him to include multiple images combined with explanations of each image. Bro. Knapp downloads the images and the explanations from the Internet.

Smart Foreign Language Classes

In Brother Thomas Cassidy's Spanish classes, enlarged worksheets containing fill-in-the-blank sentences are placed on the visualizer and projected on a screen. Brother Cassidy freezeframes the projected images so students have more time to write the answers down. Television programs shown to whole classes in Spanish are projected on a large screen with connections made from a TV to the projector. Salvatore Trentacoste, Assistant Principal and Science Department Chairman, says, "In language classes, they tend to use worksheets quite a lot. Rather than make copies all the time for distribution, teachers can enlarge the sheets right on the visualizer and project them on the screen. While students are taking notes or writing answers, the teacher can prepare the next piece that goes up on the visualizer."

Smart Art Classes

In Brother Frank Marenghi's art classes, students produce group presentations using pictures they print out in advance. They locate paintings and illustrations on the Internet and print out reproductions to be included in their presentations. Their tasks focus on art history depicting specific art styles and periods. Students also place their own artwork under the visualizer for discussion and viewing by the whole group. DVD programs and videos enhance lessons by being projected using a projector to provide background information on specific artists and historic periods.

"Smart Classrooms" have become a natural occurrence in Chaminade High School classrooms. Teachers and students are increasing their use of visualizers and projectors. "At Chaminade, technology is not an end. It's a tool," states Brother Michael McAward, Supervisor of Technical Services. "We use these teaching devices to enhance instruction, not to replace teachers. These technology tools enrich and intensify our student's learning experiences."

Teachers interviewed are from Chaminade High School in Mineola, NY. Compiled by Marcomm Group for Canon USA, distributor of the RE-455X Visualizer and Realis SX50 Multimedia Projector, www.usa.canon.com