Officials say Rocky Hill School dinstinguishes itself from others by integrating low-tech devices into its high-tech atmosphere.

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, November 7, 2004

BY ALICE GOMSTYN
Journal Staff Writer

Rocky Hill School is combining some of the best technology and furniture money can buy to turn upper-level education on its head.

A glimpse into one of the classrooms in the Warwick private school's new academic center, serving ninth through twelfth graders, tells the story:

Straight-backed -- though surprisingly comfortable -- metal chairs, originally designed for submarines, keep students from slouching.

Oval tables at which all the students sit -- a stark contrast to conventional row seating -- prevent students from hiding in the back row.

And projection equipment connected to a laptop computer allows the teacher to sit with students instead of standing at a blackboard.

The Alan F. Flynn Jr. Academic Center -- the new home for Rocky Hill's upper school -- has brought students and faculty to the height of modern learning, school officials say.

The two-story building cost $5.6 million, which administrators say was raised through a capital campaign, and includes 17 classrooms and laboratories and an 80-seat lecture hall equipped for video conferencing.

Designed by Handlin, Garrahan, Zachos & Associates, of Cambridge, Mass., the building was planned with a nautical theme, says Rocky Hill headmaster James J. Young III.

A large, blue and white nautilus shell pattern decorates the student lounge floor, and the first-floor hallway is capped by a seaglass ceiling that filters in light from the floor above.

Even the railings on the building's staircases are reminiscent of those found on a sailboat.

"We went with the whole nautical theme," Young says, because "we wanted young learners to feel a sense of excitement."

But aside from its seaworthy motif, school officials say what distinguishes the school building from others across the state is the integration of new technology with a more low-tech innovation: oval tables, called Harkness tables, such as the one found in physics teacher Scott Young's classroom.

You'll hear school officials at Rocky Hill talking about Harkness tables a lot. They are a fixture in every classroom.

Named after oil magnate and philanthropist Edward Harkness, the tables were originally used by Phillips Exeter Academy,in Exeter, N.H. They were financed by a 1930 donation from Harkness who, according to the academy's Web site, envisioned classrooms where students "could sit around a table with a teacher who would talk with them and instruct them by a sort of tutorial or conference method, where [each student] would feel encouraged to speak up."

Students in Young's class say the tables work.

"You can't sit in the back and get left out," said Kevin Crowley, 15, of North Kingstown. "It's more of a conversation than an actual class."

Harkness would surely be pleased.

But he probably never anticipated the purely practical purpose the tables would serve: they hold up another fixture in upper-school classrooms -- laptops.

Since last year, students and faculty have been required to bring a laptop to class. (In addition to the $19,500 tuition, students, or their families, must purchase the laptops; teachers are provided the computers for free.)

Students use the computers to take notes, graph data, create multimedia presentations and -- via the building's wireless network -- submit homework assignments.

The teachers use them to teach.

A special "tablet" feature on Young's computer allows him to "write" on a computer screen, an image of which is projected on a large, white screen behind him.

"I'm putting notes on the board like a science teacher should," Young says. "But what this tablet really lets me do is sit at the table with the kids. . . . By being here I can really be a part of the conversation."

The building's high-tech environment, however meticulously designed, does have its drawbacks. Sometimes the network goes down, and students complain that the metal Navy chairs can be cold to the touch.

And then there is the issue of laptop repairs.

Replacing a paper notepad will cost a couple of bucks. Replacing a broken computer screen can cost as much as $1,000.

The Toshiba laptops themselves are sold through the school -- though students have the option of buying them from outside venders -- for between $1,900 and $2,200, depending on the model.

School officials say that the investment is well worth it.

But, adds upper school headmaster Steve Farley, "technology isn't the end all be all."

Even the "Harkness [table] isn't the end all be all," he says.

It is how they affect student participation that counts.

"Students learn best when they're actually involved," he said. "That is what you need to know."