LAUSD Middle School Selects Smart Science
Emerson Middle School in Los Angeles has chosen Smart Science to enhance their science curriculum in grades 6 through 8. Based on a new technology for education, Smart Science provides effective learning opportunities for students through network delivery of real experiments.
(PRWEB) July 3, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HERMOSA BEACH, CA (July 3, 2002) - ParaComp, Inc., the creator of Smart Science, has announced that Emerson Middle School from the Los Angeles Unified School District will provide Smart Science to its grade 6, 7, and 8 science classes during the next school year.
Smart Science uses a new learning technology that involves recordings of actual experiments to provide quality laboratory experience to students anywhere. Real experiments engage students better than simulations and teach aspects of science rarely even touched by simulation-based software.
In addition to the benefits of seeing real experiments, students and teachers also find that they can do about three times as many experiments with Smart Science often at a fraction of the cost of live labs. Yet, Smart Science experiments provide a better opportunity to learn scientific thinking such as scientific method.
According to Emerson's technology coordinator, Michele Levin, Smart Science is also attractive because it requires almost no set up or maintenance effort on her part. The Emerson science teachers who tested Smart Science, Linda Luna, Susan Castaneda, and Garth Jensen, all found that they and their students had a satisfying learning experience and would like more. Ms. Luna, a sixth grade science teacher, said, "I think it is a viable and enriching resource." She further commented, "The students were engaged and seemed to enjoy the new activity."
"Smart Science allows schools to provide experiments that would otherwise be unavailable due to issues of time, money, and safety," said Harry Keller, President of ParaComp, Inc. "Internet delivery helps us keep the cost low and the content current. The browser-based format develops computer literacy while learning science and scientific habits of thought. Ms. Luna's experience demonstrates that Smart Science works well at least down to grade six."
Smart Science works with just about any Windows or Mac OS X system. In addition to the experiment itself, Smart Science provides a complete suite of support for students to ensure mastery. These include pre-lab questions designed to illuminate potential areas of student misunderstanding about the experiment subject matter, post-lab questions prepared to review the lab material and to illustrate its applications, vocabulary associated with the experiment, related scientist biographies, further exploration assignments, tutorials to provide in-depth understanding of the experiment and experimental procedures, solution strategies to help students with post-lab questions, and completely worked-out answers to all pre - and post-lab questions.
About ParaComp, Inc.
ParaComp was formed in 1980 to create software solutions. Its principals already possessed substantial experience in software architecture, development, and management. Since that time, it has performed major software development for clients such as Texas Instruments, Genuity, NEC Technologies, Exxon Americas, and Amoco Oil. Under development at ParaComp for five years, Smart Science will radically change the way science is presented to students. For more information, visit www. paracompusa. com.
For background information on ParaComp and Smart Science, please see http://www. smartscience. net/news/Backgrounder. html (http://www. smartscience. net/news/Backgrounder. html).
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