The Pea Ridge and Siloam Springs middle schools represented two of 70 schools across the state that piloted the Learning Blade program last spring. The software program is designed to grow student interest career fields that involve STEM and sharpen their skills in the subjects.
Rick Neal, superintendent of Pea Ridge Schools, Sheila Boyington, president of Learning Blade, Teresa Morgan, assistant principal at Siloam Springs Middle School, and John Key, state commissioner of education, spoke at the event at which Gov. Asa Hutchinson unveiled a new supplemental software program designed to spark student interest in science, technology, engineering and math careers.
Hutchinson announced on June 15 that a $400,000 grant, administered through the Arkansas Public School Resource Center, will make the new Learning Blade program available to all middle school students in the state this fall.
Hutchinson explained that Learning Blade is not a curriculum but a supplemental education tool. Arkansas will be the second state to fully implement Learning Blade, and the first state where the program will include an element of computer coding in its program, aligning with Hutchinson's goal to teach computer coding in all Arkansas schools.
Boyington described the program as a game-based atmosphere where students complete missions to solve societal problems. As students tackle challenges such as a dolphin rescue, Haiti orphanage and rescue robots, they learn about all of the careers involved in those fields, said Morgan.
According to company literature, students are exposed to 43 career fields and learn about 49 STEM-related tools. Not only does the program open student's eyes to career fields they may not be familiar with, it also allows them to see how the lessons they are learning in school are relevant in the real world, Morgan said.
For example, the dolphin-rescue challenge includes tracks that explore antibiotics, artificial limbs, radio tracking, diving gear, cell phone technology, marine biologists, scuba diving, machinists, veterinarians and bio-medical engineers. As students explore those fields to solve the challenge, they sharpen their skills in math, science, history, social studies and language arts. It also helps students develop their problem solving abilities and learn persistence, Morgan said.
"It's teaching kids there is more out there than the typical jobs they see every day like doctors and dentists," Neal said. "It's one more tool in the tool belt to give these kids opportunities."
Students can work in the classroom, after school, in groups or at home, Morgan said. Teachers can set the program up to direct students through certain pathways or they can allow students to explore the challenges on their own.
Siloam Springs Middle School piloted Learning Blade in their career and technical classes, Morgan said. Teachers were trained in early March and students began working on the program when they returned from spring break.
Morgan shared the experience of several students during the unveiling event. Learning Blade gave one student in the gifted and talented program the opportunity to realize she was interested in architecture and energy resources, fields she had previously never considered. Another student with autism said that he preferred to work alone and the program opened his eyes to careers where he could work independently, she said.
The software was highly successful with working with English Language Learners, Morgan said. Many of the students can manage social language but still struggle with academic language. Learning Blade includes a lot of reading, but also has a feature where the words can be read aloud as the student reads them, helping the students understand and building their comprehension skills.
"Our teachers quickly found that Learning Blade served as a tool to supplement, enhance and extend the learning within their courses," she said.
Learning Blade fits very well into the vision the Arkansas Department of Education has for student focused education, said Key.
"We're looking forward to how this develops and the feedback we're going to get over the next few years," Key said.
General News on 08/10/2016