Other students whispered and stared as Dacula High School senior Lindsay Holbrook waddled down the hall with a round belly peeking through a cotton maternity shirt.

Pregnant before graduation? What a shame.

Vino Wong/Staff Photographer (ENLARGE)

Tiffany Ramirez, 16, makes her way back to her classroom Wednesday after lunch period with her computerized infant simulator at Dacula High School. The RealCare Baby is a high-tech doll containing computer software. Sensors track whether the baby is fed, burped or rocked when it cries or whether its diaper was changed enough.

Vino Wong/Staff Photographer (ENLARGE)

David Jackson, 17, puts on the empathy belly outfit with help from teacher Tabatha Miller before going to lunch at Dacula High School. This pregnancy simulator replicates the third trimester of pregnancy.

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"A lot of people in the hallway thought it was real," Holbrook said. "They were like, 'Are you pregnant?' And I was like 'No, it's for a class project.' "

The "Responsible Parenting" class aims to prevent teenage pregnancy by giving students a "real-life" parenting experience.

Students – girls and guys – don a 30-pound pregnancy "empathy belly" containing metal balls floating in water to simulate the movement of a baby in amniotic fluid. They also walk around with a pouch of sand pressing down on their bladders like a real growing fetus would.

"When I took that thing off I couldn't get to the bathroom fast enough," laughed Maritza Yarbough, 17.

After lessons on labor, delivery and child care, students face the ultimate challenge – they take a newborn baby home overnight or for a weekend stay.

Actually, it's a RealCare Baby, a high-tech doll containing computer software. Sensors track whether the baby is fed, burped or rocked when it cries or whether its diaper was changed enough. Sensors also report whether the baby was handled roughly.

Students receive a RealCare baby wristband that connects them to the computerized baby so the responsibility can't be passed off.

"They have to wear it tight enough so they can't have their parents baby-sit for them," said family consumer science teacher Tabatha Miller. "I think it makes a huge impact on them."

The babies are pre-programmed to have the same late-night feeding patterns of real newborns.

The wails of a newborn nearly sent David Jackson's mother, Tracey, over the edge. Jackson forgot to alert his mother that he was bringing the doll home for a test.

"When she first saw it she screamed because she thought it was real," he said, laughing. "She asked me, 'Whose baby is this? What's it doing here!' "

Jackson said the experience made him appreciate his mom more.

Daniel Phillips, 17, has new respect for what his mother, Gale, went through during pregnancy. He said his back "hurt" when he put on the belly and bent down to pick up things.

"I was a 10-pounder when I was born," he said.

Teens on baby duty must take their "offspring" everywhere – on dates and even to class.

Student Lisa Demarest had to sit outside the Mall of Georgia movie "Horton Hears a Who" because her baby began to cry during the show. Holbrook was in economics class when her baby began to holler.

"Everybody was laughing," Holbrook said. "I had to leave and change the diaper and give it a bottle. It fed for about 20 minutes!"

Holbrook later brought the newborn on a baby-sitting job. Her sister, another child and the doll competed for her attention.

"I felt like I was a single mom. It was very difficult."

Holbrook's mom said the class brought her and her daughter closer.

"Now she asks me how did I have her and her little brother and work and take care of the house and know what to feed them and buy for them," Diana Holbrook said. "She had a rude awakening."

Miller also teaches her students about sexually transmitted diseases and troubled babies. (She has a Shaken Baby and a Fetal Alcohol Syndrome doll, too.)

The scare tactics seem to work. Many of her students vow to postpone parenting for at least a decade because they can't handle the responsibility.

"I want a baby, but not right now," said senior Courtney Cox, 18. "I don't have the patience."

Miller will expand the program next school year to meet the growing interest in the course, which is offered at other Gwinnett high schools.

"They take it very seriously," Miller said of her students. "I think it's important to give them the information."