by , 2:00 PM EST, February 6th, 2003
A local Michigan newspaper has published a story about a science cart from Apple that has been granted to a local middle school. The Holland Sentinel is based in Holland, Michigan, and the paper covered the recent grant from Apple that landed a science cart of Apple portables, microscopes, and other instruments in "probe kits" included in the cart, to East Middle School in the town. The newspaper says that two schools in the US were given this grant.
Even more important, at least to some of the students, is that the science cart resembles some of the technology used in this super-smash hit CSI, which is run on the CBS network. From the Holland Sentinel:
Students at Holland's East Middle School who enjoy watching the CBS crime drama "CSI" got a real treat this week when teachers at the school received a bundle of computer equipment similar to that used on the hit TV show.
"It's great because a lot of the kids watch that show, and now they can see that not only is all that technology used in real life, but now they'll be able to use it," said science teacher Dan Demerest.
Demerest applied last fall for a grant from Apple Computers to send the school a "science cart," which includes eight wireless laptop computers and nine different probe kits. The kits include microscopes and a variety of tools that measure factors such as conductivity and temperature.
The $20,000 cart will allow students to perform various scientific tests more easily and more quickly than in the past because everything will be done on computers. Previously, when students tested the temperature of evaporating alcohol, for example, the process tended to be tedious, as students had to not only take turns, but were required to record all data with stopwatches and draft paper.
"Now it's all automatic," said Demerest. "We can gather data and exchange data much more quickly and get more out of our experiments that way."
Also of note is something alluding to the future from Apple. From the newspaper:
As what Apple calls a "seed" school, East Middle School will share results and opinions on the project with Apple so the company can get a feel for the product's future viability.
You can read the full story at the Holland Sentinel's Web site.
Apple brought wireless to portables, and Dell turned that in to wireless travelling cart of Dell computers for schools. Apple also has a similar product for education, but it was Dell that really capitalized on this notion in marketing terms. For Apple to start working on developing education solutions for schools that go beyond the computer would put the company a huge leg up over a company like Dell that has traditionally lacked any real creativity, other than being able to find ways to make its products cheaper. HP might be better suited to follow Apple's lead in this area, if the company actually turns this into a lead, but the end result will be smarter uses of computers in schools. It's kind of hard to go wrong, if that's the case.
We strongly hope that this is indeed something that Apple is working on, and we hope there will be more news on this in the future.