Decatur County Schools — Where movement, meaning, and learning meet
Customer: Amy Zock
Title: Director of Instructional and Innovative Technology
Organization: Decatur County Schools
Location: Bainbridge, Georgia, USA
How Do You Get Students Up, Talking, and Truly Engaged Again?
In Bainbridge, Georgia, Decatur County Schools is known for its forward-thinking approach to education. From pre-kindergarten through high school, the district blends strong academic foundations with hands-on STEM, digital literacy, and real-world problem solving.
Even in a district rich with innovation, Amy Zock faced a familiar challenge: students were spending more time on screens, collaboration was harder to spark, and while technology was everywhere, meaningful engagement wasn’t always guaranteed.
Amy wasn’t looking for more devices. She was looking for something that would pull students away from their Chromebooks, something that would get them moving, talking, collaborating, and thinking together in ways that felt natural, social, and fun.
From Professional Development to Daily Practice
Amy didn’t just roll out the technology, she embedded it.
She led regular professional development sessions where teachers actively played, explored the interface, and practiced customizing content. Teachers learned how to adapt games, design lessons, and integrate the floor intentionally into daily instruction.
Behind the scenes, Amy:
- Designed learning spaces around the floors
- Built schedules that balanced whole-class lessons, small groups, clubs, and family events
- Collaborated with curriculum teams to align floor activities with learning goals
- Supported teachers by customizing content and training them to build their own
The result was not isolated use but true instructional integration.
Bring Learning Back Into the Room
From the start, the expectations were clear.
ActiveFloor needed to:
- Get students physically involved in learning
- Encourage conversation, teamwork, and peer-to-peer learning
- Add genuine joy and play to academic content
- Help teachers rethink lesson delivery in a multimodal way: blending movement, visuals, sound, and discussion
Most importantly, it needed to work across ages, subjects, and abilities without becoming another fragile or complicated piece of tech.
What stood out immediately about ActiveFloor was flexibility.
Decatur County Schools installed:
- One permanently mounted ActiveFloor in the elementary media center
- Two mobile units shared across the middle schools
This mix allowed the district to reach more students while experimenting with placement, scheduling, and instructional use.
Equally important was usability.
The searchable game libraries, customizable formats, and intuitive interface made it easy for teachers to plan ahead and use floor time for real engagement rather than setup or troubleshooting. The durable, non-fragile design ensured the system could handle daily use by students of all ages.
Rethinking the Classroom
The response was immediate.
Students ask to use the ActiveFloor. It naturally draws them in and once they’re on it, collaboration follows. Learners help one another, compete in teams, and talk through problems together.
Teachers jumped in on the fun, as well.
Even during professional development sessions, staff found themselves playing along, experimenting, and reimagining their lessons. Educators who were previously hesitant about technology became some of the most enthusiastic adopters.
As word spread, demand grew. Primary (K–2) buildings and the high school are now requesting their own units — and scheduling time for the floor remains a constant challenge due to high interest.
Parents notice it, community members ask about it, and visitors are consistently impressed.
Learning in Action: From Literacy to Careers
ActiveFloor quickly became a shared resource across subjects and programs.
In elementary and middle schools, media specialists pair read-alouds with interactive floor activities to reinforce vocabulary, comprehension, and discussion.
In math classrooms, the floor supports skill-building games and targeted intervention. Teachers in Science and Social Studies use it to introduce new concepts, explore hands-on ideas, and review for assessments.
One standout initiative is the district’s new Careers curriculum.
Middle school students participate in weekly engagement activities on the floor, exploring career pathways and practicing workforce-ready skills through collaborative, multimodal challenges.
Clubs and extracurricular groups also use the floor regularly to build teamwork, including activities tied to FIRST Robotics and FIRST LEGO League events.
Inclusion That Feels Natural
One of the most powerful outcomes has been accessibility.
Students of all abilities participate together. The multimodal format reduces pressure, supports different learning needs, and encourages collaboration rather than isolation.
Amy works closely with special education teachers to design life skills activities and cooperative experiences, even facilitating joint activities between high school special education students and a neighboring middle school.
Using the MyFloor portal, she regularly builds custom content, especially with the Super Sorter format, allowing many students to engage at once. Games include uploaded student images, targeted math interventions, team-building challenges, and accessibility refinements so every learner can participate meaningfully.
When the Community Stepped Onto the Floor
During a leadership community event, local leaders toured the school and were invited to try the ActiveFloor themselves.
The reaction was immediate.
Visitors were surprised, excited, and eager to participate. Many commented on how cutting-edge and student-focused the experience felt. Seeing learning in action helped dispel concerns that technology might replace teachers, instead, they saw how it amplifies instruction and deepens engagement.
Why Amy Recommends ActiveFloor
“I enthusiastically recommend ActiveFloor,” Amy says.
Its flexible and durable design supports both permanent and mobile setups. The teacher-friendly content library allows for quick adoption with strong usage from day one. Custom games, especially formats like Super Sorter, make it easy to design targeted instruction from math interventions to life skills and team-building.
Most importantly:
- Students beg to use it
- Teachers embrace it — even those who were initially resistant
- Community leaders see it as innovative and student-centered
ActiveFloor doesn’t replace instruction. It strengthens it.
At Decatur County Schools, learning doesn’t just happen at a desk. It happens on the floor with students altogether.
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Do you have questions, need sparring, or simply want to hear how our interactive learning universe can make a difference for you?
Write to us – we’re always up for a conversation that sparks new ideas.
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