Apple Lauds North Hills Middle School For Innovate IPad Use

ROSS TOWNSHIP, PA - North Hills Middle School’s successful creation of an educational environment that emphasizes iPads has earned it Apple Distinguished School status from the ubiquitous technology company.

The distinction is given to schools that use Apple products to boost collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. The schools must have documented results of academic achievements after showcasing technology innovations in teaching, learning and school environment.

With a North Hills School District initiative called Project Connect, which provides iPads to students in grades 6-9, teachers can personalize instruction for middle school students in the district and employ technology to incorporate necessary skills for college and career preparation.

“We strive to provide students with meaningful learning that connects them with each other, their communities, content experts and global audiences as a whole, said middle school principal David Lieberman said. “We believe our globally-focused curriculum, made possible by our integrated use of technology, allows our students to learn communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity skills that will be vital for their future success.”

During the first year of Project Connect in 2016-17, students:

• Authored a four-volume multi-touch interactive iBooks series as part of a collaborative English and social studies project. Students interviewed family and friends, compiling oral histories of local, national and world events. They researched these stories that spanned multiple generations and wrote explanatory essays.

• Grew seedlings and flowers and donated their yield to North Hills Community Outreach food banks and a local nursing home after designing aquaponics and hydroponics systems.

• Created historical landscapes, artifacts and recreations based on their personal interpretations of historical events as part of the first history-focused 3D design and printing program in Pennsylvania.

• Learned computer coding steps to build programming concepts for a wheeled robot named “Ollie” and aerial drones that navigated a series of obstacles.

• Collaborated with experts in physics and meteorology while conducting experimentation and used FaceTime to speak with noted authors via a live webcast.

Photo via North Hills School District.