Supporting Documentation (Success Stories)
This project can be a vehicle to take quality technology education to those in areas where technology is not readily available. Other states such as Pennsylvania, Nevada, and California have run similar classroom-on-wheels programs to assist with education and healthcare; to assist preschools; to address environmental issues; to teach science; and to help disadvantaged youth with computer programming classes.
Listed below are schools that implemented the Classroom-on-Wheels project which proved successful.
Saint Francis University’s Center of Excellence for Remote and Medically Under-Served Areas (CERMUSA)
Loretto, Pennsylvania
Portable and Mobile Classroom (PortMoC)
The Portable and Mobile Classroom (PortMoC) began as an idea to bring Internet connectivity to places where there was no connectivity to education and healthcare.
Association of Small Computer Users in Education (ASCUE), 37th, Myrtle Beach, SC, June 6-10, 2004, 9 pp.
Washoe County School District
Reno, Nevada
Classroom On Wheels - C.O.W. program brings free, developmentally appropriate preschool education to 150 three, four and five year old children who would not otherwise receive these services at ten at-risk sites in the Reno-Sparks Community.”Washoe County School District. Classroom on wheels. Retrieved April 1, 2011, from
http://www.nevadaregistry.org/files/wcsdcow.pdf.
Woodbury University
Burbank, California
Woodbury U. Students’ Laboratory Hits the Road
“A classroom-on-wheels designed by students at Woodbury University is helping local school children learn more about the environment.”
Woodbury U. Students’ Laboratory Hits the Road. (1999). Chronicle of Higher Education. 45(21), A10. Retrieved March 28, 2011, from EBSCOhost.
University of California at San Diego
San Diego, California
Computer Programming Classroom on Wheels Trains Disadvantaged, Tours California
“A 40-foot trailer transformed into a modern fully equipped classroom housing an IBM 1130 computer.”
Computer Programming Classroom on Wheels Trains Disadvantaged Tours California. (1971). Communications of the ACM, 14(4), 303. Retrieved March 28, 2011, from EBSCOhost.
Commonwealth Connections Academy
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Classroom-on-the-Go Hits the Road
“The impressive 38 foot mobile classroom includes a full science lab complete with microscopes, frog specimens, and all the equipment needed for engaging science activities like water and soil testing. The mobile classroom will also be used for in-person reading lessons, book fairs, art exhibits and more.”
PR Newswire (2011). Cyber School Students at Commonwealth Connections Academy Gain Unique Learning Opportunity with Mobile Classroom: Only Cyber School in PA to Offer Classroom-on-Wheels. Retrieved March 28, 2011, http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/classroom-on-the-go-hits-the-road-102538494.html.
Las Vegas, Nevada's Classroom-on-Wheels Project
COW (Classroom On Wheels) addresses the developmental needs of at-risk children and empowers their families to provide a nurturing environment with a goal of success in school and a healthy lifestyle.
Modeled after a 25 year old program in rural Tennessee, Classroom On Wheels was created in 1992 with the help of the community and United Way of Southern Nevada. COWPreK uses old school buses transformed into self-contained classrooms and painted to resemble Holstein cows. The program provides free, bilingual (English-Spanish) preschool classes for at-risk, underserved children in low-income neighborhoods throughout Southern Nevada. Using the HighScope framework and Creative Curriculum for PreSchool, COWPreK teachers help children develop perceptual, language, fine and gross motor, counting, and reading-readiness skills. The parenting program strengthens the home-school connection. COWPreK currently serves 332 children in 20 different classes on 8 cow-spotted buses. Classes are offered 2 days to 4 days a week for two and half hours per class.
http://www.volunteermatch.org/search/org57747.jsp
The video clip below is a sample of a Classroom on Wheels which addresses online learning. However, it provides an idea of the mobile classroom concept; instead of a science lab, it will be for computer technology.
