Rice Elementary School in Rice, Minnesota will use the $100,000 awarded in state grants to buy new technology and staff training, the St. Cloud Times reports.

The 302-student elementary school will purchase five interactive white boards and classroom computers in grades three, four and five, and staff will receive training on how to use the technology to improve students’ math and science scores.

Rice will become one of the first schools in the region to introduce this new technology to the classroom. Educators say the addition of new technology, such as an interactive white board or a classroom projector, encourages student participation and keeps them more involved in lesson.

“We are going to be in a leadership role,” said Rice principal Nate Rudolph. “We are going to be able to share the resources. The technology component is really going to be the tool for us to look at our student achievement.”

The grant comes from the Minnesota Department of Education as part of Governor Tim Pawlenty’s effort to emphasize student achievement in the S.T.E.M. fields - science, technology, engineering and math.