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HOUGHTON -- Nearly $600,000 worth of new technology has been added to the classrooms in Houghton-Portage Township Schools this year.

The funds came from the more than three million dollars in bond money that the district has also used for energy conservation improvements and facility upgrades over the past year.

Lauri Davis’ Biology class is taking advantage of the new technology.  Now when Davis wants to show her students a slide of bacteria, she simply puts it under her new document camera and it instantly appears enlarged and clear.

"The document camera is awesome because I can show samples, as a biology teacher showing samples is really important, and I can show samples directly to my students without just having to hold it up in front of the class," said Davis.

Down the hall, high school Spanish teacher Christine Clark works in one of seven classrooms in the entire district that has a new SMART Board.  The more than $2,000 interactive whiteboard works exactly like it sounds...it's basically a giant computer screen that can be written on with special markers.

"There are really a lot of benefits to having these things,” said Clark.   “I think we're pretty lucky because not very many schools are so well equipped."

Even the students are impressed with the classroom upgrades.

Other new technology includes a student response system complete with individual remotes and enhanced speaker systems.

"I really like the SMART Board because you can draw with the markers and then you can erase it, so if there's something important that a teacher's showing on a Web site or in a slide presentation, they can highlight it," said high school junior, Corey Mullins.

Teachers and students say they still have a lot to learn about the SMART Boards and other new equipment.   But so far, everyone seems to agree that the new technology passes the test.