Maine Buys 36,000 School Laptops

Governor Angus King has taken the lead in bringing Maine middle school students into the digital age: the state obtained 36,000 Apple iBooks for its seventh and eighth graders, making it the single largest purchase of laptops for educational use.

The Maine Department of Education recently signed a four-year, $372 million contract with Apple Computer to provide 33,000 students and 3,000 teachers with laptops. The move is part of an effort to transform teaching and ensure that all of the state's children have access to computers and the Internet.

The laptops are equipped with cards for wireless Internet access, and the hub of each school's wireless network will be based in the school library. Nine Maine schools have been selected by the state to demonstrate the best ways teachers can use laptops to educate this age group.

Contrary to popular belief, giving kids Internet access doesn't keep them away from the school library, says Danielle Gioia, a school library technician at Piscataquis Community Middle School in Guilford, ME, where students are already using iBooks. When students first received the laptops late last year "they went crazy and pulled up so many resources on Ask Jeeves and Yahoo! that they didn't know what to do with them," she says. The situation gave Gioia and the teachers a wonderful opportunity to work with students on improving their research skills.