Science, Technology, Engineering & Math | News

Cisco, MIND Partner To Bring Math Program to Arizona Schools

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 09/01/11

The MIND Research Institute has received a $250,000 grant from the Cisco Foundation to provide its visual math education program, ST Math, to 4,000 students in Arizona.

ST Math, for spatial temporal math, is a neuroscience-based approach to teaching math concepts visually and without language. The state standards-aligned program uses games to engage students in multi-step problem solving at their own pace.

Twelve schools in four Arizona districts, Yuma Elementary School District, Roosevelt School District, Balsz Elementary School District, and Paradise Valley Unified School District, will begin using the software this fall. The participating schools primarily serve disadvantaged students with limited English language skills.

The Cisco grant will support implementation of the program for two grades through 2014, and provides perpetual licenses for ST Math so that the schools will only need to pay renewal fees if they choose to continue using the program. According to Julie Gates, communications specialist at MIND, most of the schools will be using the program in grades 3 and 4, or grades 4 and 5. As part of the implementation, the schools will receive:

• Teacher professional development;
• Access to ST Math instructional software for teachers and students;
• Technical and curriculum support from MIND; and
• Reporting and analysis tools.

Cisco has supported MIND since 2004 with more than $3 million in cash and in-kind donations. "They have enabled a couple of schools in different regional areas to pilot our program," Gates said. "Diamond Elementary in Santa Ana, CA, was one of our first pilot schools in the Santa Ana Unified School District. The school did very well and our program is now almost district-wide in Santa Ana elementary schools."

Gates said, "Cisco has also been very supportive of MIND’s product development." The company has provided donations to support the creation of online resources for teacher professional development and curriculum development, among other things.

More information on ST Math is available at mindresearch.net.