Centro Escolar del Lago
Cuautitlán Izcalli, Mexico
iPad and Mac take
students from learning to
read to learning to code.
Not far from the bustle of Mexico City sits the serene campus of Centro Escolar del Lago. The sixty-year-old institution aims to prepare its students for the future, placing a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship and technology. Students develop ideas, create plans of action, and even bring their ideas to life by building apps. The school provides iPad to all of its students, and upper grade levels use Mac in the classroom as well. Because of the school’s bring your own device (BYOD) policy, students at the high school level can use whichever device they prefer.
“BYOD allows students to find what’s best for them. We believe Apple technology is the best — the most compatible, the best for learning, and the most secure. And nothing allows more creativity.”
Centro Escolar del Lago
The school’s youngest learners are introduced to iPad with apps like Smile and Learn, which supports learning to read and write. “The little ones are very curious to learn,” says kindergarten teacher Liliana Pescador. “They come in and grab the device, inspect it, and move it around. And we want them to start using these tools from a young age. Those who are beginning to read and write are already writing short sentences on iPad.”
Elementary students learn how to start a basic business using applications like Numbers to compare costs and set prices. And they learn how to brand and market those businesses using Keynote to design logos and Pages to write and develop plans. As students progress through middle school, they build and program robots in LEGO’s EV3 Classroom,* and when they reach the upper grades some students even code their own iOS apps in Swift Playgrounds, which enables them to address issues they care about and prepare for their future careers.
At the high school level, students incorporate Mac into their workflows seamlessly. Because applications like Pages and Keynote are available on macOS and iPadOS, students can move easily between devices. The compatibility of Mac also enables students to work in almost any application or programming environment — from Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite to Windows — and allows them to write code in a variety of languages, including Python, JavaScript, and Swift.
“We focus a lot on creativity and innovation,” says Sofía Chávez Pérez, a coding teacher. “Our main objective is for our students to become creators. We want them to find their path, to find their talent. And we want that talent to propel them to do things differently, to find their passion.”
Centro Escolar del Lago may be a decades-old institution, but it takes a modern approach to education. With iPad and Mac to support them throughout their entire educational journey, students learn creativity, entrepreneurship, and independent thinking — essential life skills they will carry with them into their bright futures.
