RIDGEVIEW – Record players, 16-millimeter projectors and typewriters are far down the list of expected items to find in a modern school library, however this week, they’re on display as a local take on a national event.

Ridgeview High joined thousands of other schools across the nation this week in celebrating ‘Teen Tech Week’ – with a catch. Many students had never tinkered with, much less touched, the technology on display – because in some cases the technology was decades before their time.

Teen Tech Week lets teens absorb the most of their technology and serves as a way to honor librarians, sometimes referred to as media specialists, as the focal point of knowledge that has shifted from analog to digital media in the past 35 years.

“Kids are learning alongside their teachers in terms of being 21st century learners,” said Addison Davis, Clay County school superintendent. “Teen Tech Week offers a great opportunity for our media specialists across the nation and locally to bring past, present and future together.”

Librarian Darlene Goodier adopted the event four years ago and added the event’s ‘retro’ aspect to give students a deeper understanding and appreciation of the technological building blocks that all eventually landed in their hands in the form of smartphones, tablets and other devices.

“The kids relate so well to it,” she said. “It’s really interesting to see them understand the old technology in relation to the new.”

The event brought together such relics as rotary telephones, carousel projectors in the same room as innovative technology such as 3D printers and the ‘Raspberry Pi,’ a small, affordable single-board computer that can be used to teach students how to program on a palm-sized motherboard.

Students took a special interest to the record player. They tinkered with the needle on the vinyl records – essentially rewinding the recording and chatted with each other about how interesting – yet unnecessarily difficult – common activities were when analog was still king.

“It was different,” said Tatiyana Watley, a Ridgeview freshman. “All we do now is mess with the AUX [auxiliary] cord, so you don’t really notice the other stuff. It was really interesting to experience how things have changed to the way they are now.”

Teen Tech Week offers students a chance to connect further with the technology that connects them to the information they can use to succeed and learn. As technology has changed, so too has curriculum to match it.

A curriculum blended with the quick access to information afforded to savvy technology users deepens the learning experience for students.

A 2014 report by the Stanford University Graduate School of Education, a pioneer in education research, found technology produces significant gains in student achievement and boosts engagement among students when implemented properly. These results magnify among at-risk students.

More and more, educational leaders look towards technology integration as an integral benefit in education.

“You have to combine it into the curriculum,” Davis said. “Because technology is the way of the future and kids are tech natives.”

Teen Tech Week plays a role in that engagement, and helps students appreciate the technology they use now, technology students before them used, and the technology they might use in the future.

“With a mixture of high-tech and low-tech resources available, we are able to encourage ingenuity and resourcefulness in our students, qualities that will help them succeed in college, career, and life,” said Julie Miller, RHS librarian.

As for Watley, the realization undoubtedly dawned on her that the smartphone she held could perform every function of all the items exhibited this week at Ridgeview High.

And although she said the exhibit was interesting and she enjoyed using the equipment, when asked if she would enjoy living in a time when all of the different items were necessities, she laughed and politely said: “No.”