EdTech Show Daily

Technology Brings Science To Life For Elementary Students

By Dr. Dan Domenech

The National Research Council found in September 2006 that major changes in how science is taught are necessary to improve science education in elementary and middle schools. This issue has developed increased significance this year as students begin to be tested annually on science under No Child Left Behind.

The incorporation of technology into science curriculum is critical. In fact, the National Science Education Standards notes that, “The relationship between science and technology is so close that any presentation of science without developing an understanding of technology would portray an inaccurate picture of science.”

There are many ways leveraging technology in the science classroom can benefit students and teachers. While hands-on lessons and labs are important components of the science classroom, digital tools make it easier for teachers to get the most from science instruction time while using technology to bring science to life for students.

Building on an elementary student’s natural curiosity, technology expands lessons beyond the classroom. DVD’s provide the opportunity to view nature in motion. Audio clips allow students to hear the sounds of nature—a bird call or thunderstorm, for example. Animated illustrations and activities accessed online enable students to explore lessons more thoroughly and build retention and inquiry skills.

Macmillan/McGraw-Hill’s Science: A Closer Look, a comprehensive standards-based program for grades PreK–6, is a terrific example of a new program that was heavily influenced by the National Research Council’s findings, reported in *How Students Learn Science*. This particular program changes the classroom dynamic by weaving technology into classroom management and the student experience, so students of all learning styles can master the content and skills needed for high-stakes testing.

Educators benefit from incorporating technology into science lessons too. For example, digital lesson planning helps busy elementary school teachers create quality, concise lesson plans. PowerPoint presentations at the beginning of a lesson can help set the stage for daily content. DVDs provide professional development for teachers who may want assistance in teaching strategies for science. Online assessment tools help provide differentiated instruction for all levels of learners, helping them develop the thinking skills and science knowledge they need to succeed.

As we continue to raise the stakes for science education in our schools, we look forward to new developments in technology to expand our students’ horizons even further.

Dr. Dan Domenech is Senior Vice President of National Urban Markets for McGraw-Hill Education. Dr. Domenech is a former superintendent and educational leader for several large school districts including Fairfax County Schools in Virginia. For more information about Science: A Closer Look, visit www.macmillanmh.com.

MAXIMUS Offers Industry-Leading Web-Based Student Information System

Allison Duquette, President of MAXIMUS Education Systems Division, discusses the progress of her company and its top products.

ESD: Tell our readers about MAXIMUS. What’s the company’s main line of business?

AD: MAXIMUS is one of America's leading government-services companies devoted to providing program management, consulting and information-technology services. The company has more than 5,200 employees located in more than 220 offices in the United States, Canada and Australia. SchoolMAX, our industry-leading Web-based student-information system, is one of MAXIMUS’ most strategic product offerings. 

ESD: What makes your company unique?

AD: MAXIMUS, being a leader in implementing large, complex business-process and technology solutions, is uniquely qualified to solve the student-information system challenges of the nation’s largest school districts.

ESD: Where is your current product emphasis?

AD: Our current product emphasis is on continuing to develop our SchoolMAX Enterprise product. We are experiencing swelling interest in our robust scheduling capabilities—particularly our master-schedule builder—which will solve many of the challenges faced by unified districts. The product is a completely Web-based application that can be securely accessed from any location that has Internet access, so the SchoolMAX Enterprise reporting capabilities are also of interest to districts that want to put access to real-time information about students into the hands of their teachers, to enable them to make informed instructional decisions.

ESD: What distinguishes your products from the competition?

AD: Our proven scalability and robust feature set are our greatest points of difference. We made the decision several years ago to build SchoolMAX Enterprise to meet the needs of the largest school districts in the United States. Having successfully done that, we are now able to offer an ASP [or SaaS] version—based on this same architecture—that can appeal to districts of any size. Offering both a self-hosted version or a MAXIMUS-hosted version of the product lets a district make the best technology decision for its specific requirements.

ESD: Compare the position of your products and their technology against the current market.

AD: Our products are built on the Oracle database. This gives us superior scalability and security compared to any other database infrastructure. It also gives us and our customers the opportunity to integrate seamlessly into other Oracle products which are prevalent in school districts, such as Oracle Business, Oracle Financials, Oracle Business Intelligence, etc.

ESD: How do you see the next year in terms of economy, sales, technology and product evolution?

AD: We are poised to have tremendous success over the next 12 months. Our technology will continue to lead the pack in terms of scalability and feature set; we will continue to see increasing demand for SchoolMAX Enterprise due to the aging of existing client/server technology; and we will continue to fulfill that demand with world-class implementation and customer support.

ESD: To what do you attribute your company’s success?

AD: Our success is based on a strong track record of product innovation, implementation success and product support. However, we are never satisfied with the status quo and we’ll continue to invest in each of these areas to ensure we remain the premier choice to solve the challenges of the nation’s most-complex and demanding school districts.

Catapult Online Becomes Educate Online, Launches With Innovative New Programs

Educate Online, a new company with a long history in education, launched today. Formerly Catapult Online, Educate Online will build and expand on its proven foundation as a provider of Supplemental Educational Services (SES) that improve student achievement, the company said in a statement this morning.

While the 2007 Nation's Report Card showed some progress toward closing the achievement gap in reading and mathematics, there is still much work to be done to achieve our country's ambitious educational goals. With more than a third of fourth-graders and a quarter of eighth-graders not performing at a basic level in reading, and similar lags in math achievement, schools and families need proven intervention solutions to help accelerate learning. There are many solutions available today that claim to help get students back on track, but not many can claim a record of success.

Educate Online can. "In fact, a study funded by a Star Schools grant from the U.S. Department of Education revealed that at-risk students who complete the Educate Online program in math and reading realized academic gains of more than one grade level. The research, conducted by Rockman et al, an independent research firm, demonstrates that the Educate Online model is a highly effective solution for putting students on the right path for academic success," the company states. 

"Our research showed that students enrolled in Educate Online mathematics and reading programs demonstrate significantly greater gain than their peers who are receiving only classroom instruction," says Saul Rockman, President of Rockman et al. "Overwhelmingly, parents believe that Educate Online is effective. They also agreed that students' attitudes toward school and self-confidence improved over the course of the program."

Educate Online offers a unique online prescriptive intervention program, designed to help students learn key concepts, fill learning gaps and get back on track for academic success. Educators and families report that students who complete the Educate Online program have a new, positive attitude toward school, their friends and their community.

For more information, visit www.educate-online.com.

World Book Discover Bridges the Achievement Gap

All students need reliable reference tools and World Book has introduced World Book Discover, a new resource designed specifically to meet the needs of students who read below the level of their peers. This latest addition to the World Book Web provides content, tools and features to help bridge the achievement gap and support differentiated instruction.

Teachers, librarians and other educators asked us for a product like World Book Discover to help their struggling readers participate in class assignments and find the information they need presented at an appropriate level.

"Teachers, librarians, and other educators asked us for a product like World Book Discover to help their struggling readers participate in class assignments and find the information they need presented at an appropriate level," says Patti Ginnis, Chief Marketing Officer of World Book. This is a reference tool that has real-world application. There are many groups of students reading below grade level, including those with limited English proficiency, struggling readers, those with a disability, and adult literacy students. We're working hard to ensure that World Book Discover will help meet their needs."

Among the key features of World Book Discover are its easy-to-read articles on topics that interest older students accompanied by reading comprehension questions to help readers focus on key concepts. A text-to-speech feature allows students to hear text read aloud, also increasing comprehension.

Another unique feature of World Book Discover is a comprehensive section focused on life skills, covering such topics as buying and maintaining a car, applying for a job, budgeting, arranging housing and understanding health care issues.

For more information, visit www.worldbookonline.com.

Obama Seeks Detail on Self-Esteem in Schools Project

Our kids deserve a better chance at every level -from preschool and summer school, to high school and college. Last year, I introduced the Innovation Districts for School Improvement Act, which provides grants to school systems that draft detailed plans for broad reforms at the district level -- Senator Barack Obama in a letter to Anke Otto-Wolf, the creator of Self-Esteem Tools for Teachers and the initiator of the Self-Esteem in Schools campaign beginning mid August.

The Self-Esteem Tools for Teachers and the Self-Esteem in Schools Campaign provides school districts the edge in achieving the demands which Senator Obama's School Improvement Act stipulates. Districts accept the Self-Esteem Tools for Teachers concept mindset, and receive complete guidelines for implementation. Teachers participate in e-workshops and online seminars, and empower their students; and the students gain higher self-esteem, will be ready for the future, and will, "meet the demands of the modern global economy."

Otto-Wolf believes that self-esteem is the most underrated solution to increasing school attendance and decreasing violence -- i.e., if the bully would have high self-esteem, the bully would not be bullying. Peak performances are achieved through boosting self-esteem, learning skills and learning abilities. The Self-Esteem Quilt Concept is a classroom proven method offering vital Self-Esteem Tools to Teachers in the classroom.

For more information, or to find out ways to incorporate the Self-Esteem in Schools Campaign into your district, visit www.self-esteem-tools-for-teachers.com.

Millard Schools Break the Mold With SMARTHINKING

Next school year, students taking the AP courses at Millard Public School District, a suburban district located outside of Omaha, Neb. will have access to online tutoring from SMARTHINKING, the award-winning market leader in providing online tutoring by expert, live tutors.

The Millard PSD-SMARTHINKING partnership offers a unique approach to helping high school students pass their AP exams and earn college credit. The tutoring partnership will help Millard offer more support to AP students, increase AP course enrollment, and allow more students to get a jump-start on college credits. SMARTHINKING will offer live tutoring assistance in almost all of the AP courses offered at Millard South High School. Last year, more than 267 juniors and seniors in the district enrolled in AP courses, with more students expected to enroll in AP courses in 2008-2009.

"Our mission is to give every student the very best educational foundation to prepare them for the next phase in their lives -- be it college or the workforce. We believe the experts at SMARTHINKING will help students excel to greater academic heights and boost our overall passing rates on AP Exams," says Superintendent Keith Lutz.

For more information about SMARTHINKING, visit www.smarthinking.com.

Is It Time To Distrupt The Class?

America's education system was once the hope of future generations, but sadly, a lack of innovation in the sector has undermined its effectiveness. Study after study shows our nation's young learners struggling to keep up with their peers abroad, and as gains in the classroom slow to a crawl, the nation's very future is threatened. America's competitive edge rests in the hands of today's students, but our longstanding educational model is no longer capable of teaching those students the skills necessary to maintain and nurture America's international leadership position.

A variety of forces are conspiring to constrain education in the U.S., and the dominant education research paradigm doesn't help, as it consistently fails to show the way forward.   

This dire outlook on the state of education in America sets the stage for the new book: Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. Co-authored by Harvard Business School Professor and bestselling business writer Clayton M. Christensen, public policy expert Curtis Johnson and education researcher Michael Horn, the book examines the nation's problematic educational system and unveils an innovative educational model that zeroes in on the nation's major educational failures and points the way to improvement.

"Every year, America pours more and more money into its schools, but it fails to result in improved student performance," says Christensen, a leading business strategist and Harvard Business School professor. "A variety of forces are conspiring to constrain education in the U.S., and the dominant education research paradigm doesn't help, as it consistently fails to show the way forward."

Recognizing the need for a system-wide upheaval, the co-authors approach education reform from a business and innovation viewpoint, as they explain how a revolutionary change is needed to "disrupt" the flawed educational system and set American students on the path to achievement. They frame their ideas in Christensen's groundbreaking theory of disruptive innovation, originally outlined in his blockbuster seller The Innovator's Dilemma. The theory explains how entire industries are overturned and revolutionized by the introduction of a single, new technology that delivers simplicity, convenience, accessibility and affordability.

The co-authors predict that the disruptive innovation that will revolutionize the education system is student-centric technology that offers customized learning. In Disrupting Class, the co-authors draw on extensive research of schools and educational programs nationwide to highlight certain technologies that support this individualized approach to education. They herald one such innovation, computer-based learning, as the primary mechanism to push toward customized learning.

Educators Go Online to Teach Overseas

Educators Overseas announced this week that it has completed a successful inaugural season as the first international teacher recruiting company to use live digital interviews of teachers via the Internet. Educators Overseas places teachers and administrators in positions in schools around the world.

Until now educators who desire to teach overseas spend their own time and money to attend recruitment fairs and be interviewed in person by international schools. With online interviews Educators Overseas is able to offer teachers a more efficient and effective way to find a job teaching abroad. 

"International schools love being able to find and hire qualified teachers online while teachers appreciate the opportunity to get a great job teaching overseas with minimal effort and expense," says Christy Grimste, owner and CEO.

Unlike many recruiting agencies Educators Overseas is unique in not charging teachers any fees. Phillip, a teacher from New York, remarks, "Finding a job through Educators Overseas has been wonderful; it's been great being able to do everything online. And now I'm looking forward to teaching in Indonesia!"

For additional information about online interviews and teaching abroad or living overseas, visit www.educatorsoverseas.com.

Mingoville, e-Learning for Kids Offer Free Online English Courses

Mingoville is an award-winning, online English learning program for kids ages 5-12. The program is 100 percent Web-based and contains hundreds of game-like activities to stimulate kids' language learning abilities. Recognizing the need to learn English as a universal impulse, and to help today's children better become global citizens of tomorrow, Mingoville is making its online courses in English for kids completely free.

We want to contribute to reach the second goal from United Nation's Millennium Development Goals, which is to achieve universal primary education by developing and providing high quality online English learning for kids. In order to reach those kids who cannot afford education, we need to work with foundations like e-Learning for Kids.   

"At Mingoville, we believe that education should be free and available to all kids," says Stephan Stephensen, Mingoville's CEO and founder. "We want to contribute to reach the second goal from United Nation's Millennium Development Goals, which is to achieve universal primary education by developing and providing high quality online English learning for kids. In order to reach those kids who cannot afford education, we need to work with foundations like e-Learning for Kids."

The foundation offers best-in-class, free courseware in math, science, computers, language arts, health and life skills. Working towards shared goals with Mingoville, the foundation is also building a community for parents and educators to share innovations and insights in childhood education.

For more information, visit www.mingoville.com.

Hollister Kids Educational Publications Win Four National Excellence Awards

Hollister Kids, the educational publishing division of Hollister Publication Services, Inc., earned four gold medals in the 2008 Distinguished Achievement Awards competition of the national Association of Educational Publishers (AEP).

The AEP competition showcases the best of the best in supplemental instructional materials, primarily for the K-12 market. Among the industry-leading companies competing are Scholastic, Weekly Reader, National Geographic, Discovery Education and Leapfrog.

AEP has honored Hollister as a finalist or gold medalist 44 times over the past 12 years. This year, Hollister's gold medal award winners were:

• The Constitution in the News, Best Commemorative Issue/Middle School.
• African American Healers, Best Sponsored Publication/Middle School.
• The Land Connects Us, Best Whole Publication Design/High School and Best Sponsored Publication/High School.

All three award-winners are available to Newspaper in Education (NIE) programs nationally through the Hollister Kids website, www.hollisterkids.com. The Constitution in the News is the first Hollister print supplement to be reformatted for use with newspaper e-editions.

For more information, visit www.hollister1.com.