Students show off online work in state capitol

Michigan students from third grade on up are headed off to the state capital to show legislators how they use high tech in their classrooms, reports The Daily Telegram.

Students travelled to show off what cool things they've been doing with their class blogs, graphing calculators and class web pages. Sixty schools throughout Michigan selected students to present at the 2006 AT&T/MACUL Student Technology Showcase, organized by the Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning.

Some of the projects include a digital photo blog project that explores state and local government and a demonstration on how students can use graphing calculators in their classrooms.

"We don't know who we're presenting to," said sophomore Ishah Ahmed. "The schools' displays are set up throughout the Capitol, so whoever happens to be in the building that day can stop by.

The graphing calculators are becoming popular in math classroom to perform simple calculations on a large screen.

"When I first started teaching, graphing calculators were very novel," Musolf said. "Now they are a central part of teaching math," said teacher Jon Musolf. "With the technology, it allows (students) to look at concepts in a different way," Musolf said. "Being able to use graphing calculators lets you look at why do you do it and look at it in more depth."

Musolf also set up the blog on his Web page to encourage students to ask questions and get extra credit by encouraging students to write more.