SOURCE: Paracomp, Inc.

 

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - January 15, 2009) - Today we need innovation in science education more than ever. According to the newly designated Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, Barack Obama's education program emphasizes science and mathematics education immediately.

In Los Angeles County, a family-owned company, Paracomp, Inc., has produced a groundbreaking innovation. Their product, Smart Science® instructional units, is the leader in online science education. It is the only online product approved by the College Board as the labs for AP Biology, AP Chemistry and AP Physics courses and the only online product that meets the definition of and goals for laboratory experiences in the National Research Council's "America's Lab Report" published in 2005.

The dire need for this innovation became apparent to Dr. Harry Keller, Paracomp's President, in the early 1990s. His two children, then at one of the best high schools in the U.S., were given cookbook labs that provided no chance to challenge and inspire them.

Dr. Keller determined that every program designed to improve science education, including Goals 2000 from President George H. W. Bush, will fail. These programs all address the peripheral issues of teaching science: class size, curriculum, teacher training, and teacher compensation. None address the core issue: how science should be taught. All require large amounts of time and money.

Extensive research dating back to the 19th century shows that science should be taught by encouraging students to think and act like scientists. Severe requirements have prevented widespread use of this way of teaching: classes must be very small and teachers must be experienced in the practice, history and philosophy of science. The Keller family determined that only technology could make this teaching method practical and inexpensive. They put their own resources into addressing this issue and the Smart Science® technology was born.

Currently, Smart Science® instructional units are used across the country in grades 5 through college at large and small, rural and urban, prestigious and poor, online and traditional educational institutions. All four Keller family members are listed as inventors in United States Patent No. 6,529,705 for Smart Science® technology.

Smart Science is a trademark of Paracomp, Inc.

AP is a trademark of the College Board

www.smartscience.net