Technology in the Classroom

Technology is one of many tools we use to prepare girls for the future. With campus wide Wi-Fi, technology is integrated in all aspects of teaching, learning and communicating.

Hutchison was one of the first schools in the area to adopt a school wide laptop program. Now in its eleventh year, Hutchison’s One-to-One Laptop Program is available in lower, middle, and upper school. Every girl in lower school has her own Chromebook and beginning in fifth grade, girls are assigned a laptop they can take home. In early childhood, all classrooms have iPads.

Laptops are an important part of our academic program. Across all grade levels, technology is used to extend and enhance the curriculum. Emphasis is placed on teaching necessary technical skills while encouraging an understanding of the possibilities of computers and current technologies. This exposure to technology provides girls one of the most important skills in the technology age: learning to learn new technologies.

Two innovation labs are unique environments where girls can work individually or collaboratively to think in new and exciting ways. Staffed by experienced educators trained in technology innovation, the labs are prime examples of how technology is used to extend the curriculum, whether girls are further testing some principles learned in physics or using the 3D printer to re-create an invention discussed in social studies. The innovation labs include: furniture on wheels that creates a fluid space that adapts to the needs of the girls, tables or walls that are painted with IdeaPaint to facilitate creativity and idea sharing, tinkering stations, sewing machines, 3D printers, Arduinos, Hummingbirds Kits, and LittleBits for creating prototypes.