All kindergarten students in district benefit from interactive learning centers
CALGARY, Alberta --- August 23, 2011 --- SMART Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SMT) (TSX: SMA), a leading provider of collaboration solutions, announces that the Prairie Valley School Division (PVSD) in Saskatchewan, Canada, has adopted the SMART Table interactive learning center for all of its 38 kindergarten classrooms. PVSD began installing the SMART Table in September 2010, as a means of engaging early learners, keeping them interested in the curriculum and introducing them to classroom technology in small groups. Because the SMART Table interactive learning center is mobile, teachers are also using it in many of their pre-kindergarten and first-grade classes. According to PVSD teachers, students as young as three years of age adapt to the SMART Table quite naturally, sorting shapes and identifying colors while learning to take turns and developing early social skills. Others use activities their teachers have downloaded from the SMART Exchange™ website (exchange.smarttech.com), an online community that features more than 250 subject- and grade-specific activity packs designed for use on the SMART Table, along with thousands of other SMART Table activities. SMART introduced the SMART Table interactive learning center in 2008 as the world’s first multitouch, multiuser interactive learning center designed specifically for early learners. Using the SMART Table enables groups of early education students to work simultaneously on one surface, helping them to build cognitive, social and fine motor skills, while providing access to all students, including those with special needs.
The Prairie Valley School Division began using SMART products three years ago. Now, in addition to the 38 SMART Table interactive learning centers, the school division has 191 SMART Board™ interactive whiteboards, equipping approximately half of its classrooms and instructional spaces. According to division officials, SMART products were introduced not only to engage students, but to help recruit teachers graduating from university and who are interested and ready to use classroom technology products to remain current with student learning patterns. PVSD covers a large area surrounding the city of Regina, Saskatchewan. Encompassing more than 10,425 square miles (27,000 km2), it is a mix of urban, suburban, rural, ranching and farming communities, including 15 First Nations communities and 2 Hutterite colonies. Division officials wanted to give as many students as possible access to technology products and chose SMART Board interactive whiteboards, and more recently the SMART Table, as more feasible and effective than laptop computers.
“The SMART Table is interactive, dynamic, entertaining and engaging,” says Ben Grebinski, Director of Education, Prairie Valley School Division. “If early learners are engaged in the process, they will enjoy learning, and I’m convinced the SMART Table will become truly embedded in our day-to-day instruction.”
“Administrators and teachers at the Prairie Valley School Division clearly recognize the importance of using interactive technology products in the classroom to engage and support today’s learners,” says Patric Nagel, Vice President, Sales (Americas), SMART Technologies. “With a SMART Table interactive learning center in all kindergarten classrooms, young students will benefit from having the tools and resources needed to support their success now and in the future.”
About Prairie Valley School Division
The Prairie Valley School Division is a large, diverse school district near Regina, the capital city of Saskatchewan. With 38 schools in 32 communities, it is home to more than 8,000 students and over 500 teachers. PVSD believes in maximizing student engagement, learning and achievement, valuing learning opportunities inside and outside of the classroom and honoring the diversity of individual schools and communities. For more information on PVSD, visit pvsd.ca.
About SMART
SMART Technologies Inc. is a leading provider of collaboration solutions that transform the way the world works and learns. We believe that collaboration and interaction should be easy. As the global leader in interactive whiteboards, we bring more than two decades of collaboration research and development to a broad range of easy-to-use, integrated solutions that free people from their desks and computer screens, so collaborating and learning with digital resources are more natural.
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