By Evan Barton
Special to Inside
The Francis W. Parker School, founded in 1901 by Colonel Francis W. Parker and Mrs. Anita McCormick Bell in the Near North Side, has in recent years made efforts to renovate its old facilities. According to the Principal's Assistant Alex Franke, the newest renovation to the school is the now modernized science wing.
The project to renovate the Suzanne Crown Goodman Science Wing involved both the modernization of the old science wing, as well as an addition of 9,000 square feet of science rooms and laboratory space, and was completed in January.
The March issue of the Francis W. Parker publication "The Live Creature" declares the new facilities and technology in the new science wing as being "second to none in the city of Chicago." The school now has more space to conduct experiments and modern equipment to improve accuracy. Before the completion of the new science wing, Science Department Chair and eighth grade teacher Anne Marie Fries would conduct an experiment involving thermometers, heat lamps, candles, and stop watches to help students understand the three different methods of heat transfer, which are conduction, convection, and radiation. With the new technology available to Francis Parker School, however, this experiment can now be performed without the old thermometers and stopwatches. These items have been replaced by laptop computers and Pasco temperature probes.
Laptop computers are now available for students in every science class. Students are able to compare their lab results with other students in the class in real time due to the wireless network that enables the data entered by each student to appear plotted graphically on all of their computers.
Not only can students see the results of their peers as they perform these experiments, but the network access available from these computers allows them to access saved data from all the computers on the school network. This allows the students the ability to look at their data, and compare and contrast it with others, at any time.
The school also has probes and digital sensors other than the new temperature probes used in the experiment mentioned above. Some of the new probes can also be used in efforts to measure pH levels, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity, which is the amount of sediment or foreign particles in the water. And according to "The Live Creature," "New lab tools such as the digital Proscope and ScopeCam put all the power of digital microscopes into the hands of our aspiring scientists!"
"The need for the new science center was born out of a combination of factors," including assistance for the teachers in their lesson plans, and "pumping student interests," said Franke.
Franke pointed out that the last 15 years of the school's 104 year history have seen a trend of steady revitalization, and that the science wing is important in showing alumni what The Francis Parker School is doing to improve its students education. "There was a grand opening to alumni [in January], so it's still like our hot ticket item," she said.
As for possible future renovations, Franke said, "The auditorium hasn't been renovated since the '60s." |
