New York teachers confirm impact of SMART Board interactive whiteboards
Research at Wappingers Central School District reaffirms cross-curricular benefits
CALGARY, Alberta --- June 16, 2005 --- SMART Technologies Inc. announces that a research study, conducted by district administrators at Wappingers Central School District (WCSD) in New York State, confirms the effectiveness of SMART Board™ interactive whiteboards in engaging K–12 students in the classroom. In a recent survey of WCSD teachers, 95 percent of respondents reported an increase in student participation during lessons that used a SMART Board interactive whiteboard. Seventy-four percent of teachers also responded that shy students were more willing to participate in class activities using this interactive approach. More than 110 SMART Board interactive whiteboards are currently installed at WCSD by local SMART reseller Tequipment Inc. Based on these research findings, the district plans to install 40 more units by the next school year.
Using SMART Board interactive whiteboards for lesson planning and development, WCSD has taken an interdisciplinary team approach to learning, where groups of teachers meet weekly to collaborate on cross-curricular lesson activities. For example, a cross-curricular project about the United States may involve lesson activities on history and maps (social studies), famous American inventions (science), literary works (language arts) and currency (math). Teachers can display relevant websites, interactive multimedia clips and other reference materials on the SMART Board interactive whiteboard for whole-class teaching and learning. Over the past three years, this interdisciplinary team approach has successfully integrated technology with curriculum and helped students better understand the relationships between various subjects through unified projects, as reported by Michael Scheff, a technology integration teacher at WCSD.
“I’ve been involved with Wappingers Central’s technology initiative since day one,” says David Walker, technology integration teacher at WCSD. “Every day we learn something new about how to inspire learning with the SMART Board interactive whiteboard. It’s truly a phenomenal tool for teachers. And students have responded well to this technology, showing a marked improvement in classroom participation.”
“More and more educators are moving from the traditional sage-on-the-stage model to a more engaging, guide-on-the-side approach. Interactive technology facilitates the collaborative learning process and involves students in hands-on learning,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s president and co-CEO. “Consistent with research observations from around the world, the research findings from Wappingers Central’s study confirm the correlation between the use of the SMART Board interactive whiteboard and elevated levels of student engagement in the classroom.”
About SMART Board interactive whiteboards
The SMART Board interactive whiteboard is a large, touch-sensitive display. Connected to a computer and projector, the interactive whiteboard is like a giant computer screen that students and teachers simply touch to operate. Using their finger or a pen as a mouse, teachers and students can access and control any computer application, file or multimedia platform, including the Internet, CD-ROMs and DVDs. They can also write over applications in digital ink, then save their work for future study and review. The SMART Board interactive whiteboard engages students with diverse learning styles by providing both immediate access to a wide range of digital materials and a common focus for the entire class – not something easily achieved with other technologies. It is the number one choice among primary and secondary school educators in more than 75 countries worldwide because the pioneering software interface captures the imagination of students of all backgrounds and abilities in order to help them learn together, understand better and achieve more. For more information, visit www.smarttech.com/smartboard.
About Wappingers Central School District
Wappingers Central School District is the ninth largest central school district in New York State, with an enrollment of more than 12,000 students. There are ten elementary schools, two junior high schools, two senior high schools and an alternative high school. For more information, visit www.wappingersschools.org.
About Tequipment
Tequipment Inc. offers New York State schools the full range of traditional classroom, career and technical education training equipment, as well as support and professional development services. Tequipment supplies products ranging from SMART Board interactive whiteboards to classroom furniture, A+ certification programs to character-development software, and specialized automotive training to computer literacy certification. For more information, visit www.tequipment.com.
About SMART
SMART Technologies Inc. is both the industry pioneer and global market leader in easy-to-use interactive whiteboards and other group collaboration tools. The award-winning SMART Board interactive whiteboard is the most widely installed product of its kind in the world. Many school jurisdictions have standardized on the product, which is used to provide interactive learning opportunities and enhance student achievement in more than 150,000 classrooms spanning every U.S. state and more than 75 countries. SMART products also include interactive pen displays, interactive digital signage, wireless slates, multimedia cabinets and software. Using SMART products, groups can access and share the information they need to meet, teach, train and present. SMART’s education customers include New York City Board of Education (U.S.), Oxford University (UK), Tokyo Nampei Senior High School (Japan), University of Ottawa (Canada), United World College (Singapore), Stephen-Hawking-Schule Neckargemünd (Germany), Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind (U.S.) and Harvard University (U.S.).
SMART is a private company founded in 1987. Employing more than 600 people, SMART is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with assembly facilities in Ottawa and Calgary, and offices in Bonn, Tokyo, New York City and Washington, D.C. SMART has been issued and maintains a broad portfolio of patents with numerous other U.S., Canadian and foreign patents pending. In 1992 SMART formed a strategic alliance with Intel® Corporation that resulted in joint product development and marketing efforts, and Intel’s equity ownership in SMART. SMART products are sold through dealers across North America and distributors worldwide. For more information, visit www.smarttech.com.
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For more information, contact:
Public Relations
SMART Technologies Inc.
1207 – 11th Avenue SW, Suite 300
Calgary, AB T3C 0M5
CANADA
403.802.2595
pr@smarttech.com
Please note that SMART is written in all capital letters.