TCEA 2016: Samsung’s Mission to Close the STEM Gap
School districts aren’t the only ones pivoting their curriculum efforts to close the gap in science, technology, engineering and mathemetics (STEM) workforce. Companies are reaching out with new initiatives and products to help schools achieve their goals of preparing students for the 21st century.
During the Texas Computer Education Association’s 2016 Convention and Expo this week, Samsung was in Austin, Texas, showing educators how its two new product bundles are aimed at helping schools transform classrooms into digital learning spaces. Educators can use such tools to expand STEM classroom instruction.
Diane Ashby, Samsung’s national education business manager, told EdTech that one of these solutions, which she calls the STEM cart, includes multiples of 10 Samsung Galaxy Tab E tablets, along with a choice of digital curriculum options from STEM Fuse.
“There’s a disparity between what students are being prepared for in terms of mastery in STEM and what’s required of them in the workforce,” says Ashby. “It’s incumbent upon us to bring a solution like this to market.”
“The ability for students to work with their peers on the same document is huge. They can even collaborate with students in another class, for instance, and I can provide students with more immediate feedback. Since implementing the solution, both parents and students are more interested in seeing what we have to offer with our 1:1 program,” Latricia Donahue, a Spanish and computer science teacher at Venture Academy Family of Schools in Stockton, California, said in a news release.
Samsung also unveiled a bundle directed at increasing collaboration in the classroom by using Tidebreak software.
“With the bundle, we wanted to create an offering that was both meaningful for collaboration and motivates students to want to learn,” said Andrew Milne, CEO of Tidebreak, in a news release. “The solution goes beyond just wireless presentations with the co-creation of content that works to transform the learning experience. It’s a simple solution that radically improves performance, making it easy to go from a standard classroom into an advanced learning space for students and teachers.”
Learn more about Samsung’s new education solutions on the company’s website.
