Elwood’s Augmented Reality
Augmented reality, or AR, technology has arrived in science classrooms at Elwood-John H. Glenn High School.
Students at John H. Glenn High School are working with technology known as an Augmented Reality Sandbox, which combines 3D visualization with hands-on activities to teach earth science concepts.
The sandbox — developed by the UC Davis’ W.M. Keck Center for Active Visualization in the Earth Sciences — allows students to create topography models by shaping sand, which is then augmented in real-time using an Xbox Kinect. The system teaches geographic, geologic and hydrologic concepts such as how to read a topography map, the meaning of contour lines, watersheds, catchment areas and levees.
Students have also been experimenting with a gravity table, built by the district’s technology department using PVC piping, binder clips and a large spandex sheet. The table demonstrates physical laws of motion, gravity, friction and even helps students understand orbits in the solar system, according to John Glenn High School science teacher Richard Greening.
Good Deeds Indeed
Northport High School’s Tigerettes and Intro to Dance students still managed to spread messages of positivity with the patients Cohen’s Children’s Hospital. The students’ dance performances were taped and then broadcasted by the hospital to lift patients’ spirits during the holiday season.
In Half Hollow Hills, the community helped the KiDS NEED MoRE fundraiser run by Gianna and Vanessa Tantillo of Hills East and Emily and Grace Sullivan of Hills West collect over $2,000 and 443 toys this year. The toys and donations will be used to spread holiday cheer for hundreds of local children fighting cancer.
In the Harborfields district, high school junior Sophia Karl is helping to bring a smile to the faces of nursing home residents just in time for the holidays. Together with the help of her fellow students, she founded the Huntington chapter of “Letters for Rose.” The nonprofit organization, started by two Montclair High School students in New Jersey, now has more than 300 students from around the country working to reducethe loneliness of the elderly in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. To do so, Harborfields students districtwide worked passionately creating more than 500 heartwarming letters, pastel and watercolor cards to be delivered to local nursing homes.
Congratulations and Recognition
Stephanie Dyer of Half Hollow Hills West was selected for one of the Foundation for Teaching Economics: Economics for Leaders programs this past summer.
Each of these week-long, educational programs helps students from around the world gain a better understanding on how to integrate economics into decision-making and explore the correlation between economics and leadership.
Ethan Levenstien from Signal Hill in Half Hollow Hills recently was named as one of four nationwide winners in the Scholastic Awesome Friendly Kid Sweepstakes for students in grades 1-8 to write about how they have made an impact in their community through kindness or good deeds. Ethan wrote an essay about the charity work he does with his family, and Scholastic rewarded him with the entire series of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books as a prize.