UNB Research Finds SMART Board Technology Increases Teacher Effectiveness and Student Engagement
Saint John, New Brunswick – Canaport LNG and the District Education Council of School District 8 today announced that Canaport LNG is donating 25 “SMART Boards,” valued at $80,000, to 14 schools in Saint John.
SMART Boards are interactive whiteboard technology that, when combined with skillful teaching, have been shown in studies to greatly enhance childhood education. Canaport LNG, a partnership between Repsol and Irving Oil, is a liquefied natural gas receiving and regasification terminal based in Saint John that will begin operation in early 2009.
New Brunswick’s Minister of Education, Kelly Lamrock acknowledged the gift saying “Building the best education system in Canada requires partnerships, not only between government and teachers, but also businesses, the community and parents. This donation of Interactive SMART Boards is a wonderful example of how these kind of partnerships can benefit students, who will make up our future workforce, and move this province toward our goal of self-sufficiency,” said Minister of Education Kelly Lamrock. “SMART Boards are an important teaching and learning tool, and I thank Canaport LNG for its generous gift.”
The SMART Board, designed by SMART Technologies Inc. of Calgary, greatly expands classroom teachers’ capabilities and opportunities for student engagement by providing highly dynamic, interactive presentations and many other useful educational functions. Today’s announcement marks Canaport LNG’s second gift of SMART boards to the school district.
“On behalf of the students and parents of District 8, we sincerely thank Canaport LNG for giving 25 SMART Boards to our schools that will richly supplement the ten SMART boards they donated last year,” said Susan Tipper, Superintendent for District 8. “We are confident that this continued investment in our schools will add to our teachers’ capabilities while improving our students’ overall academic engagement and performance, especially in math.”
Among the numerous studies showing the effectiveness of SMART Boards is a 2008 study by the Health and Education Research Group of the University of New Brunswick called Applying SMART Board Technology in Elementary School Classrooms. It reports the findings of a one-year study on the effectiveness of SMART boards at New Brunswick’s Park Street School (District 18). Teachers surveyed during the study agreed that the SMART Board technology was a benefit in his or her classroom, improving their abilities to teach while increasing student engagement.
“Children are our future, so Canaport LNG is proud to make this contribution to our children’s education,” said Jorge Ciacciarelli, Canaport LNG’s General Manager. “The SMART Boards will help to develop Saint John’s next generation of scientists, engineers and skilled workers, so one day, these students will not only be integral to our operations, but to our entire local economy.”
The 25 donated boards were unveiled at a presentation at 10:00 am on December 9th at Millidgeville North School. District 8 will distribute the boards to 2 high schools and 12 elementary and middle schools, including:
The SMART Board connects to a computer with a USB cable, and the computer image can be projected onto the board through a digital projector connection. Teachers and students can write, erase and perform mouse functions with their fingers, a pen or an eraser directly on the boards. They can also save their work to SMART Board software as screen shots that can later be edited, or they can save their notes directly to several software applications, including Windows versions of Microsoft PowerPoint, Word and Excel.
This support to the 14 schools in District 8 represents Canaport LNG’s continued commitment to education in the Saint John region. Canaport LNG also helped launch the Get FANatical about Math Program, in partnership with the Saint John Sea Dogs, in 2006. This program fosters math skills of students from kindergarten to grade eight in School Districts 6, 8 and Samuel-de-Champlain school. Canaport LNG has committed to a three-year sponsorship of the program.
For more information on UNB’s Applying SMART Board Technology in Elementary School Classrooms: Investigations of a School-Wide Initiative Study, visit:
http://education.smarttech.com/NR/rdonlyres/C190B4DF-E412-427A-B7BD-720DB3F4566F/0/UNBReseachReportSept08.pdf
About Canaport LNG
Canaport LNG Partnership Limited is a partnership between Irving Oil Limited and Repsol. Canaport LNG is to begin operation as a world-class liquefied natural gas receiving and regasification terminal in early 2009. Situated at Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, Cana port LNG will have a send-out capacity of 1.2-billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas a day, destined for markets in Canada and the northeastern United States. The project will create over 1500 jobs during construction. To learn more, please visit www.canaportlng.com.
Media Contact:
Carolyn Van der Veen
Canaport LNG
(506) 658-6212
cvanderv@canaportlng.com