A "21st Century Model Classroom" at Greeneville High School was showcased Wednesday afternoon in an interactive demonstration to a group of community members.

The Activclassroom equipment, valued at $25,000, was donated to the Greeneville City School System by the Promethean company in an announcement made this summer in San Antonio, Texas, according to Beverly Miller, the school system's chief technology officer.

Miller and a group of Greeneville educators were in San Antonio to receive the national Sylvia Charp Award of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) for innovation in technology usage.

Miller recalled that the school system learned it would receive the gift during a dinner in San Antonio in which Lane Cummins, area manager of Promethean, announced the gift.

The new technology has been in use at GHS for about three weeks.

Miller opened the demonstration on Wednesday by stating that the school system is "very thankful" for the gift, especially during "tough budget times."

Miller introduced Kat Gemmer, teacher of the GHS freshman honors science class, who conducted the demonstration.

(For video of the demonstration, visit www.greenevillesun.com.)

Gemmer showed how the Activclassroom is designed to engage and motivate teachers and students.

Using an interactive whiteboard connected to her laptop computer, Gemmer showed how she can organize and share information with teachers across the nation.

Gemmer displayed an image of the sun and asked students to walk from their seats to write their thoughts on the board.

With a specialized pen, the students described the sun as "burning fuel," "ball of gas," "solar energy," "UV rays" and "supports all life.

Student Candice Rai used a keyboard function to text a sentence on the board.

The students and community members took an interactive quiz about nuclear energy.

The quiz was administered using a Learner Response System with 30 hand-held devices that allow students to enter their responses individually.

Gemmer showed that the system can display percentages of responses in bar graphs and pie charts.

She said the system also allows her to see how each student performed on a quiz.

Gemmer also showed a tablet device that students can write on at their desks with the information displayed on the whiteboard.

A video with surround sound also was played during the demonstration. Gemmer noted that she can freeze a video and draw on an image from that video.

Attending the event were Cummins; Director of Schools Dr. Lyle Ailshie; State Rep. David Hawk, R-5th of Greeneville; Jerry Anderson, chairman of the Greeneville Board of Education; and several other community members and educators.

GHS Principal Dr. Linda Stroud said the new technology will help prepare students for the high-tech jobs of the future.

"Kids are actually wired differently, and if we think as educators that we can stand in front of them with a blackboard and piece of chalk and lecture, we are kidding ourselves," she said.

"They are natives of the world of technology, and that's the way they learn," Stroud said.

"Promethean has allowed us an unbelievable opportunity with what they have provided us," she added.

For more information on the new technology being used at GHS, visit go to www.prometheanworld.com.