Bonsall High School in San Diego County, California, is one of approximately 150 New Tech model schools in the country, where innovations in experiential learning foster college and career success. Moving beyond technologies that merely mimic traditional educational strategies, Bonsall uses an all-in-one computer—Sprout by HP—to fundamentally change the classroom experience. The result is highly engaged students who can creatively define and solve real-world problems.
Sprout includes a webcam, projector, touch-mat display, advanced 3D scanning and 3D print connectivity. Users can grab a real-world object, manipulate it digitally, and bring it to life in a physical space. Because all Sprout interaction surfaces—including the Integrated Display and the HP Touch Mat—handle multiple touch points, it can be used simultaneously by multiple students. Sprout supports both collaboration and personal exploration.
Sprout enables remote learning and empowers student-led video documentation with a webcam, downward-facing camera and dual screens that showcase physical objects and multiple environments. Sprout captures, records and revises material for student self-assessments with manipulation of 2D and 3D objects, video-capture tools and other creative apps. Users can create rich presentations using videos, add sketches with a stylus, and scan 2D or 3D objects for yearbooks, marketing flyers and other projects. The stylus can also allow a student to annotate or sketch in an ergonomic manner.
World Studies Teacher Daniel Costa is fascinated by Rube Goldberg machines—chain-reaction devices that combine whimsy with engineering. Costa is also interested in World War II. Costa imagined teaching about the war by having his students work in teams to build Rube Goldberg machines with Sprout. Events would be represented as objects, which would interact to unfold the next chain of events that impacted a country and ultimately the war.
“The HP Sprout is inherently fun so students who use it automatically want to start creating things” Fleming says.
Students leveraged the technology capabilities of Sprout, including mashups and layouts, stop-motion animation, video capture, and tracing and stenciling.
“The HP Sprout capabilities support the project-based learning philosophy of our school, which emphasizes hands-on, real-world experiences that teach teamwork and critical thinking” Costa says.
Students were challenged with creating their projects with recycled materials; there was no budget for supplies.
To get their Rube Goldberg machines working, teams had to make multiple revisions—an essential real-world skill.
Bonsall has just scratched the surface of innovations made possible by Sprout. Costa is learning more about the device’s capabilities and imagining new ways to use them. “My students challenge themselves and they have fun” Costa says. “When they finish a project and have actually created something with the technology, they remember it. It becomes part of them. Sprout is planting seeds of knowledge that will grow throughout their lives.”
Costa is already thinking how to build upon the experience next year.
“Being an early adopter to drive new projects is dirty and messy” he says. “But that’s where you get the good stuff. I will continue to push other teachers to be risk-takers to use the Sprout technology to get the kids in front of it and get out of the way.”
For more information, visit hp.com/go/SproutforLearning
