EDUCATION Technology to be feature of festival

Displays will show the role of technology in the curriculum.
COLUMBIANA -- "Pathways to Success" is the theme for the Crestview middle school and high school annual fine arts and technology festival on April 22.
Susan Kershner, instructional technology coordinator, said the event, which will start at 6:30 p.m., will showcase pupil achievements and demonstrate how technology permeates the curriculum in all grades.
Pupils are preparing displays and hands-on stations for visitors.
Kershner said pupils will demonstrate the use of graphing calculators to determine marketing projections. Visitors can see the "techno-quilts" created by consumer economics pupils. Parents and pupils can use the Internet to look for college information.
A highlight of the evening will be a Crestview trivia quiz show patterned after the television show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" A contestant will be in the hot seat, and 30 audience members will use wireless keypads to vote on the answers.
Kershner said the electronic system is called Turning Point and links to a PowerPoint program to display the results of the audience responses on a screen. The system can be used for multiple-choice questions, short polls and interactive exercises, she said.
Other demonstrations
Pupils who participated in a crime-scene investigation project will have the results of their findings on display and also are preparing hands-on demonstrations for visitors in fingerprinting, evidence-gathering and digital photography.
Richard Sell, a retired police captain, assisted teachers and pupils in the staging of a crime, collection of evidence and a trial.
Several examples of assertive technologies -- devices that modify or customize learning tools for special-needs children -- will be displayed. Visitors will see demonstrations of ReadPlease.com, a free Internet download that converts text to speech. There also will be a station set up for visitors to try the technology themselves.
Ron McClosky's advanced computer technology pupils will demonstrate how they create Web pages for the school district. The Web pages are at www.crestviewlocal.k12.oh.us.