Adaptive Curriculum
© 2008 Sebit, LLC
I had the chance to sit down briefly with Peter Rillero, one of the principle authors of this new web-based math and science curriculum for middle schoolers. Dr. Rillero is a science professor at ASU, which is one of the reasons I was interested in this generic-sounding curriculum. He joins Gary Bitter, another veteran of ISTE and educational technology, as contributor. The $10 per year per child package is web delivered (from outside the school) and the lessons are designed in Flash, so students can have access from any web-based browser. My first question to Peter was, "What sets this curriculum apart from all the others?" "There are no stick figures in these graphics," he said, showing me a Flash-based science unit dealing with cooperative organisms, where you apply what you learned by cleaning the teeth of a Nile crocodile by moving a Plover bird around the screen (those are the little birds with a death wish, that freely go in and out of a crocodile's mouth, eating bits of old meat). At the end of the lesson, you get a five-question test, and if you master the content, you move to the next unit. Made in Flash it contains two years worth of middle school math and science lessons (two lessons/week), designed by Sebit, LLC in partnership with ASU's Technology Based Learning and Research (TBLR) department.
$10, Windows, Mac OSX, Internet Site
Teaches: science, math