Panel Session to Spark Discussion on Use of Virtual Manipulatives to Support the Development of Number Sense for Elementary Students; Survey Points to Math Taking a Back Seat to Literacy
BELLEVUE, WA, January 12, 2010 —
an award-winning educational software company, today announced that Mickelle Weary, a
member of its Academic Team and a National Board Certified Teacher, will lead a panel
session titled “Using Virtual Manipulatives to Support the Development of Number
Sense,” this week at FETC, an educational technology conference, being held in
Orlando, Florida on January 12 -15, 2010.
Tying into one of the conference’s main themes of integrating technology into the
classroom, participants in Ms. Weary’s session will share views and ideas about
the value of using virtual manipulatives for teaching number sense concepts and skills
as well as how to use and evaluate virtual math manipulatives in a classroom setting.
In addition, a variety of Web-based tools that DreamBox Learning has developed for
teachers and their young math students will be showcased. The session will be held on
Thursday, January 14 at 3:10 p.m. in room W304D.
DreamBox Learning also invites attendees to visit its FETC Exhibition Hall Booth, #1305,
throughout the show for more information and a demo of its award-winning product,
DreamBox Learning K-2 Math. Conference goers who stop by will be eligible to enter a
random drawing to win a free six-month classroom subscription, enabling each student in
the class to engage in an individualized, fun and effective learning experience, using
virtual manipulatives to develop conceptual understanding and computational fluency.
“DreamBox Learning has made enormous strides in its first year, with students in
schools and at home learning math concepts with our online products,” said Sarah
Daniels, Vice President of Marketing for DreamBox Learning. “Our innovative
approach — using virtual manipulatives and a highly adaptive technology to
individualize the instruction based on each student’s interaction with the
manipulatives — ensures that students are successfully grasping critically important
math skills, and we are very excited to share and build upon our knowledge and experience
with other educators and technologists at the FETC show.”
DreamBox Learning Survey on Parents’ Attitudes Toward Math Education
Further supporting the need for increased math-based technology in the classroom,
DreamBox Learning released results from a survey it conducted in November/December 2009
of more than 500 parents of DreamBox Learning users regarding their attitude toward math
education. Findings showed that while parents place high value on a quality math
education for their kids, they actually don’t spend enough time on supplemental
math activities in the home. Further, at least 50 percent of the respondents felt that
schools don’t provide differentiated math instruction in the classroom, whereas
72 percent felt that their children benefitted from differentiated literacy instruction.
This data underscores the importance and value of DreamBox Learning and its online math
products, which can play a crucial role in getting students engaged in the subject at an
early age. To that end, initial effectiveness studies of second graders using DreamBox
Learning K-2 Math showed that after only eight hours of use, students’ paper and
pencil math test scores increased by an average of 19 percent. Survey results can be found at
www.dreambox.com/parentsurvey.
About DreamBox Learning K-2 Math Products
The award-winning, home-based DreamBox Learning K-2 Math product is based on national
math curriculum standards and presented through fun, adventure-based stories designed to
keep kids in kindergarten through second grade engaged and excited about learning math.
The DreamBox Math Classroom is a version of DreamBox Learning K-2 Math designed specifically
for teachers to use in a classroom setting. Additionally, the company offers DreamBox
Teacher Tools, a set of four groups of virtual manipulatives and a broad series of math
lessons that teachers can access free of charge.
The DreamBox Learning math programs have secured widespread appeal, with over 30,000 users
in homes and schools across the U.S. and Canada. Further recognition of DreamBox
Learning’s efforts are evidenced by its 18 top technology, education and parenting
awards including: AEP 2009 Golden Lamp; AEP 2009 Distinguished Achievement award;
Parents’ Choice Gold; Children’s Technology Review Editor’s Choice;
Tech & Learning Award of Excellence; National Parenting Center Seal of Approval; NAPPA
Gold; and Dr. Toy Best Products Award.
For more information about DreamBox Learning K-2 Math and to sign up for a free 30 day
classroom trial, go to
http://www.dreambox.com/teachers.
Additionally, to keep up on what‘s happening at FETC as well as what is on the
horizon for DreamBox Learning, follow the company and its team on Twitter @DreamBox_Learn.
About DreamBox Learning (http://www.dreambox.com)
DreamBox Learning was founded in 2006 in Bellevue, Washington by world-class technologists,
educators, interactive entertainment experts, and entrepreneurs who share a collective vision
that every student should have access to an individually tailored, learning experience that
is engaging, motivating, and effective. Backed by $7.1 million in angel funding, the company
developed a web-based platform for creating effective and individualized online learning
products and launched its first adventure-themed product for the home market called DreamBox
Learning K-2 Math in early 2009. Both the home-based product and the school-based version,
DreamBox Math Classroom, target young students in kindergarten through second grade and are
designed to reinforce and teach real math through effective, individualized instruction in an
engaging and fun manner. DreamBox Learning K-2 Math is based on NCTM (National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics) recommended math curriculum. Pearson Canada is the exclusive
distributor of DreamBox Learning Math Classroom throughout Canada. More information can be found at
Media Contacts
Foghorn Public Relations
Erica Thomas: 508-872-3380 or ethomas@foghornpr.com
Shelly Eckenroth: 717-852-7060 or seckenroth@foghornpr.com
