BARRE, Vt. – The Vermont Lottery and Vermont Agency of Education today announced Westminster Center School, in Westminster, Vermont, a K-6 public school, as the Fall 2016 winner of the Educate/Innovate Grant Program. This is the fourth round of a program that has awarded technology devices to a total of four schools during the past two years.
The program, funded by the Vermont Lottery, will provide a cart of iPads to the school in support of their proposal, which describes a project called “Discover Westminster.” Working with the Westminster Historical Society, the community and a local author, the third and fourth graders will photograph various historical sites, interview community members and share their stories and visuals via a website devoted to the project. Students will seek old photographs, mementos and artifacts to paint a picture of Westminster through the ages. The project culminates in a presentation at Town Meeting Day in March 2017.
Reviewers felt this project really exemplified the use of education technology to build an authentic community collaboration.
“The Educate/Innovate program continues to provide a great avenue for project-based learning examples in all regions of the state,” said Peter Drescher, education technology coordinator. “These small projects, supported directly with new technology, get to be much more visible in their local communities.”