PASCO Announces Web-Based Virtual Environment for Teaching and Learning

NEW ORLEANS—March 19, 2009—PASCO scientific today gave educators at the National Science Teachers Association conference a glimpse of a new, web-based virtual environment that gives teachers and students access to 21st century science and math content and activities wherever and whenever they need them.

“The PASCO Online Academy for Science and Math is a 21st century solution for building 21st century skills,” said Wayne Grant, Ph.D., chief education officer at PASCO. “The ability to teach and learn in a virtual environment opens new vistas for both teachers and students. It’s a place to introduce new topics, reinforce difficult concepts and participate in inquiry-based activities and experiments that otherwise may not be possible. Visionaries predict that such environments, already popular in computer gaming, are the wave of the future, and have the potential to transform the way we teach and learn. It’s exciting to provide new ways for students to excel at math and science. These skills are essential to a knowledge-based economy.”

Featuring Activity Objects™ from Adaptive Curriculum, the PASCO Online Academy for Science and Math delivers hundreds of high-quality, standards-based activities via the web. The over 200 Activity Objects give teachers and students access to supplemental lessons that enable students to develop and test their own hypotheses, experiment in a safe environment and learn by doing. The lessons cover a wide-range of topics, virtual experiments, scientific inquiry exercises and problem-based learning, all aligned with national science and math standards. The award-winning Activity Objects are widely recognized for combining research-based pedagogy with state-of-the-art, high-resolution interactive visualizations consistent with students’ expectations of modern graphically rich environments.

Many activities include a complete Online Assessment section that enables teachers to check for comprehension by viewing student-by-student responses. Whether they are used for an entire class, in small groups or for individual instruction, lessons and activities can be delivered within a one-to-one or one-to-many computer configuration.

The PASCO Online Academy for Science and Math is available through a 12-month annual subscription. Licensing options that include student use anytime, anywhere are also available. For more information call 800-772-8700 or visit www.pasco.com/onlineacademy.

Adaptive Curriculum is a trademark of Sebit, LLC.