Ed Tech Leader of the Year 2003

By Michael Milone

Finalists

Elizabeth Ross Hubbell

The principles of Montessori education might not, at first glance, seem compatible with technology. Elizabeth Ross Hubbell, however, disagrees with this contention. From her point of view, "The philosophies of Montessori education and those of the information age model operate under the umbrella of collaborative learning communities."

As is true of all Montessori teachers, Hubbell is a strong proponent of having students learn by doing. When educational technology reached the point at which it made sense for her to incorporate it into her classroom, she did so. In the past few years, after earning a master's degree in information and learning technologies, Hubbell made technology an even more integral element in her classroom, and she has supported her colleagues at the Montessori School of Denver (www.montessoridenver.org) as they made a similar transition.

Hubbell uses technology to assess student skills, support service learning projects, and enrich the overall classroom experience. An example is a recent study of South America, a project that took almost five months for her early elementary students to complete. Students made a clay model of their favorite rain forest animal, and then incorporated the figures into a claymation movie about the rain forest. The students created their own animal sound effects and composed theme music with the help of their music teacher. The finished product appeared on Denver Community Television.

Another good example of how Montessori learning can be enhanced through technology is a lesson about levers that Hubbell developed. In a typical Montessori classroom, students build prototypes of the three classes of levers and label each part. Students sometimes need a reminder about how to set up the levers, so Hubbell developed an online tutorial to clarify the concepts involved and guide students in their hands-on activity.

Elizabeth Ross Hubbell believes that technology, when applied properly, is a development consistent with the practices Maria Montessori initiated. "If we can create a curriculum that embraces these practices and brings in new ideas and modern interpretations of Montessori's writings," suggests Hubbell, "I think we will be on to something incredible."

Toolbox Adobe Acrobat (www.adobe.com) BrainPOP (www.brainpop.com) Macromedia Studio MX (www.macromedia.com) Microsoft Movie Maker (www.microsoft.com) Microsoft PowerPoint (www.microsoft.com) Sunburst Type to Learn (www.sunburst.com) Digital Playground A project that is close to home for Hubbell's students is designing a new playground for the school. The students used the Internet as well as print resources to investigate the possibilities for new equipment. They developed an ideal playground based on new equipment and favorite pieces they wanted to retain, put their findings into a digital slide show, and made a presentation to the school trustee who was coordinating the playground renovation. The activity has since taken the form of a WebQuest (ouray.cudenver.edu/~eaross/playground).