PCS Edventures! (OTCBB: PCSV) Announces Systemic Institute Success

Windsor, Alberta 10/23/2009 04:30 PM GMT (TransWorldNews)

PCS Edventures! (OTCBB: PCSV) recently announced the successful commencement of the second year of the Idaho SySTEMic Solution, a U.S. Department of Education-funded initiative to advance STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) achievement, enthusiasm and confidence among elementary-age and middle school learners and their teachers. PCS Edventures! provides learning labs and materials, teacher education workshops and consulting services for the initiative, which is led by Boise State University, the recipient of the U.S. Department of Education award.

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SySTEMic is being implemented and evaluated in seven schools in the Meridian Joint School District, the largest district in Idaho. It is the overarching vision of the Idaho SySTEMic Solution to encourage participating elementary school students to progress to middle school and high school levels with greater interest and abilities in STEM, to provide an inquiry learning educational model that will be transferable throughout Idaho and other states, and to equip teachers to foster STEM interest and literacy. SySTEMic provides a model of hands-on, project-based learning through the use of the PCS BrickLab.

"Through project-based experiential learning, children solve problems, think creatively and critically, become comfortable with math and science, and are more engaged and motivated to learn," stated Louis Nadelson, an assistant professor of curriculum, instruction and foundational studies at Boise State University and a co-principal investigator on SySTEMic.

The first two years of the Idaho SySTEMic Solution are focused on teachers, with the goal of supporting their STEM content knowledge, instructional practices, awareness of engineering and overall confidence in teaching STEM concepts. Teachers attend a three-day Idaho SySTEMic Summer Institute, then implement hands-on lessons in their elementary classrooms throughout the school year, with support from Boise State and PCS staff. Last year, 38 teachers participated, and this year an additional 37 have joined the project.

"This professional development model has proven highly successful, and we continue to expand and use it both domestically and internationally," noted Jim Schmidt, Ed.D., PCS' Director of Professional Development. "The model emphasizes continuous feedback and reinforcement of concepts, beginning with an intensive physical workshop that is supported by online learning modules, site-based mentors, and regional master mentors."

Professor Nadelson is studying the program's effectiveness along with Boise State's SySTEMic Solution's research team, which includes principal investigator Janet Callahan, associate dean of engineering; Pat Pyke, director of engineering education research; and Anne Hay, SySTEMic Solution project coordinator. At the close of the first year, the project had assembled considerable quantities of data that are still being analyzed. The team presented its first set of data, on the Summer Institute, at the 2009 annual conference of the American Society for Engineering Education. To summarize, pre- and post-institute analyses revealed statistically significant teacher increases in confidence to teach STEM curriculum, improvements in engineering attitudes, and increases in STEM teaching efficacy during the course of the three-day workshop. The team attributes these accomplishments to the content and context of the Summer Institute, and it is currently analyzing the data on school-year implementation. The success of the Idaho SySTEMic Solution has also drawn support from the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), which funded 20 classrooms for a similar project in rural Idaho schools. PCS held a BrickLab workshop for these teachers in October 2009.

"I was extremely impressed with the BrickLab workshop," observed Anne Seifert, STEM Coordinator for Education Programs, Idaho National Laboratory. "On behalf of the INL Education programs, we want to commend you for efforts in supporting STEM education here in Idaho. Congratulations on your great work in supporting teachers as they prepare and educate students for the future. Please accept our best wishes and we look forward to your continued partnership!" Source PCS Edventures!

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