Former W.Va. governor learns how students use technology

SPRING MILLS, W.Va. — Former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise visited Spring Mills High School on Thursday to see how the school will prepare students to graduate with the skills and technology they need to succeed in the 21st century.

“Human knowledge doubles every five years, and students today can’t learn the way we did when we were in school, by drill and rote,” Wise said. “They have to graduate from high school prepared for college or the workforce. Many will have 10 different jobs in their lifetimes.”

Wise is president of the nonprofit Alliance for Excellent Education, a Washington, D.C.-based national policy and advocacy organization that focuses on the country’s 6 million at-risk high-school students, including those most likely to drop out or graduate unprepared for their futures.

Spring Mills High School is one of four West Virginia high schools selected to teach a new STEM program that focuses on science, technology, engineering and math, said Marc Arvon, the school’s principal.

The school received $30,000 for teacher training.

“It’s a three-year commitment involving planning and implementation," Arvon said. "We will begin with 100 sophomores. They will stay in the program through their senior year. Eventually, the program will include all classes, even freshmen.”

Students can apply for the STEM program if they have good attendance and discipline, and hold a 2.5 grade-point average, although there might be some leeway there, Arvon said.

“Doors will open for them," he said. "When they graduate, they will be ready for college or technical school.”

Wise toured several classrooms, where students showed how they were learning to solve problems and think critically while working as teams.

Sophomores Ryan Grass and Thomas Anderson designed and constructed a crane-like Lego robot on a 3D printer. Wise came away impressed.

“(Information technology) or commuters will definitely be in my future,” Thomas said.

His college choices include Penn State or Virginia Tech.

In another class, teams of students were making circuit breakers using battery-powered electricity.

Another team tackled a problem involving a real-world scenario. They were told by their teacher that they were on an airplane that crashed into a freezing ocean, where they had to make clothes to protect them from the cold water only from what they found in the plane.

They made boots from plastic trash bags, cardboard, bubble wrap, duct tape and newspaper, among other materials. They even took the temperature of their feet before and after they tested their designs by standing in ice water for five minutes.