The Waterford Institute Learning Software for the 21 st Century Student

1. The Waterford InstituteLearning Software for the 21st Century Student By: Amanda Lundberg, David Livingston Miller, and John Kenneth Gillin Group 13

2. About The Waterford Institute • The Waterford Institutewas created to give children around the world the opportunity to excel academically as well as provide equity among classrooms through the use of technology. This revolutionary new software individualizes learning for students grades pre-school through second grade in the subjects of math, science, and reading. The Waterford Institute’s founder, Dr. Dustin Heuston, speaks on the foundation of the Waterford Institute and the mission of the company.

3. How Waterford Works • Waterford software is present in thousands of classrooms throughout the world, and has proven to be extremely effective. Not only do students benefit from these interactive lessons, but children truly enjoy taking part in these educational games. Waterford engages students by developing game-like educational programs like Rusty and Rosy, Camp Consonant, and Central Park. These programs contain fun cartoon characters, while incorporating important lessons on reading, math and science in ways that are easy to follow. These programs come at a low cost, at approximately $240 per program.

4. Different Learning Software Programs

5. Waterford Assessment of Core Skills The WACS, or Waterford Assessment of Core Skills, allows information about student development and progress to be accessible instantly to teachers, which would take a lot of time and energy to gather without the program . This makes assessments of the students on an individual basis a much easier endeavor.

6. Waterford in the Classroom • Waterford has developed Interactive Whiteboard Lessons to use on Smartboards in classrooms. A Smartboardis a piece of technology that combines the easy use of a white board with all the accessibility a computer offers. Waterford has taken this technology and incorporated programs that are easy for young students to use. It has also opened up new doors for teachers, expanding their repertoire of presenting new ideas to the class.

7. Waterford and Diversity • The Waterford Institute has developed math, science and reading programs for children with no prior learning experience called Waterford Early Learning. Waterford Early Learning incorporates the same game-like learning experience, along with all the same benefits. • At risk students and English language learner students have demonstrated significant growth in their learning abilities after using these interactive programs. • Waterford is not only reaching out to students in the United States, but is also used in Romania, Senegal, Rwanda, Israel, India, China, and Taiwan. Children around the world are receiving instruction in English reading, math, and science, as well as learning English as a second or foreign language.

8. Conclusion • Countless hours of research have been conducted proving the effectiveness of Waterford technology, and that with continued use comes better results. With literacy being such an important part of the educational process, it only stands to reason that a revolutionary software was developed to put the best learning methods in the hands of young children around the world. New technologies are making a significant impact not only in the world, but also in the classroom. Using technology as a way to engage students in an interesting and effective way opens up many doors to the educational success of children growing up in the 21st century. • For more information, visit http://www.waterford.org/.