BOSTON, May 17, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Last week, Dr. Ursula
Martin and Dr. Allyson
Chappell of the Instructional Technology team in
Mobile County Public Schools won
the "Unruliest District Innovators'' award. This award is presented
annually by Unruly Studios, the creator of Unruly Splats, for
outstanding efforts in bringing high quality computer science
education to the elementary and middle school students.
Known as "The Doublemint Twins" for their teamwork and
collaboration, the duo's work is driven by a shared goal of "having
the most positive impact on students," noted Dr. Martin.
In 2019, Alabama passed the
Computer Science Bill, which mandated every K-12 school to offer a
high-quality computer science course by 2022. With this bill and
the required digital literacy standards, the team began their work
to support schools, administrators, and teachers on their
instructional technology journey.
To do this, the Instructional Technology team has created
comprehensive support and resources for both school administrators
and teachers. This includes initiatives such as online professional
development courses, in-person instructional technology trainings
at the central office, and even pushing directly into
classrooms.
One of the biggest challenges to tackle is building awareness of
how the digital literacy and computer science standards can
integrate into core subject standards, such as math and reading,
without being viewed as an additional requirement. For Dr.
Chappell, "We want to help teachers get to the point where
integrating the [technology] standards in their classroom is
fluid."
Access to resources that easily integrate into multiple
classrooms throughout the school day helps foster this fluidity.
For them, one of those resources is Unruly Splats. Starting in one
school in May 2023, Unruly Splats
quickly expanded into eight Mobile
schools.
Dr. Chappell attributes the growth of Unruly Splats to its ease
of use and seamless integration with both computer science and core
subjects. "The Unruly Splats give teachers an accessible entry way
to incorporating computer science without having to do high tech
coding," said Dr. Chappell.
For Dr. Martin, "The movement component of Unruly Splats is
really engaging for students. With Unruly, students do not have to
be tied to their computer to learn coding. They can be out of their
seats and moving and there is a lot of research that supports the
benefits of movement in learning."
The availability of direct teacher support from the Unruly team
has also allowed Dr. Chappell and Dr. Martin to feel confident
introducing Unruly Splats to other schools within Mobile.
From "The Doublemint Twins" to the "Unruliest District
Innovators", Dr. Martin and Dr. Chappell look forward to continuing
to create impactful computer science education opportunities for
the students of Mobile County.
Learn more about Unruly Splats in Mobile at
https://pages.unrulysplats.com/mobile.
About Unruly Studios
Unruly Studios is the creator of
Unruly Splats. Unruly Studios' vision is to create STEM learning
experiences that are playful, collaborative, and inclusive. Their
newly released Unruly Math product brings the kinesthetic learning
of Unruly Splats into elementary math classrooms.
Media Contact:
Alexa Poulin
9788668058
377866@email4pr.com
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SOURCE Unruly Studios