AUBURN — As Fairview Elementary School sixth-graders in Stephanie Marris’ class worked on laptops learning about Greek mythology, guests peered over their shoulders.

Members of the Maine Board of Education, an advisory committee to the Maine Department of Education, toured Auburn schools Wednesday to see how technology was used in classrooms.

“Feel free to ask them questions,” Marris said of her students. “They love to talk.”

As adults watched students learn about the ancient Greek Olympics, sixth-grader Grace Beaudet said she was creating a trading card for a goddess named Hera.

“She’s the queen of the gods, one of the characters I liked,” Beaudet said. “She’s the guardian of marriage, a diplomat, often jealous.” Beaudet learned about Hera through National Geographic websites and another, www.wingedsandals.com.

Fellow sixth-grader Gavin Bates worked on his trading card about a Greek god named Herkles. Both students said laptops, which they got this year, allow them to get better-quality, and more, school work done.

Martha Harris, a state school board member from Winterport, said she was in the school to learn. “We try to go to places to learn about innovations happening. We’re learning a lot about the use of technology in Auburn schools.”

Board members toured classes at Auburn Middle School, Edward Little High School and Fairview Elementary on Wednesday. Harris liked how students used laptops and iPads.

“I think it’s fantastic,” she said. “One of the things we’re working on is the use of technology and integrating it into learning, particularly in a rural state like Maine. We’re learning how it’s happening, and happening well.”

In the Auburn classes, “you can see the excitement of the children and that they’re really learning a lot using the technology appropriately.”

Across Maine all seventh- and eighth-graders have laptops provided by the state, but many districts don’t have the money to provide computers for all students, Harris said. She’s heard from high school students frustrated because they had laptops in middle school, “but when they go to high school they have to share with six or eight other people. It’s really difficult.”

Computers enhance learning “if it’s done right,” she said. “Kids have access to all kinds of material they would not otherwise. See, the kids are studying Greek gods. They can find 10, 12, 15 resources at their fingertips.”

State board chairman James Banks of Portland said it helps to see how teachers and students use technology, that it helps students learn at their own pace.

Seeing technology used helps board members “when we have to make some policy decision involving technology,” he said. One example would be modifying certification standards for new teachers.

After the sixth grade visit, the group walked into Kelly McCarthy’s kindergarten room where students were using iPads to listen to a story, do math, read or write. All 20 kindergarten students were reading at Class C level, the teacher said. Reading levels begin at A and go through Z.

Harris watched as a boy named Evan practiced reading and writing “has” and “had.” With his finger he then wrote the letters B and T.

“It’s incredible. These kids are working on their own,” Harris said while admiring the letter B Evan drew. “I was watching them do math. Because they have instant knowledge that they’ve either done it right or wrong, they can really be teaching themselves.”

She wished iPads could be used in schools statewide “if we had the money. I don’t think it’s a waste of money at all.”

Auburn School Committee Chairman Tom Kendall watched state board members watch students. “We’ve got to be one of the most progressive districts for what we’re doing with technology,” he said.

bwashuk@sunjournal.com

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