NAPPA Award Winner, Fable Tablet, Partners with Boys & Girls Club of Boston
Museum of Science, Boston Engineering Content Digitized to Inspire STEM Learning
CONCORD, Mass., Nov. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Isabella Products, Inc. today announced a new partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Boston (BGCB) in collaboration with the Museum of Science, Boston (MOS) to provide Fable® tablets to children at the Charlestown BGC location. The pilot program represents the first time ever that Engineering Adventures®, a curriculum produced by the Museum of Science, Boston, is being delivered digitally to afterschool students. This is the second major announcement this week for Fable, as it was also recognized with a Silver medal in the technology category by The National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA), one of the longest running and most respected awards programs in the country that identifies the best products for children and their families.
"We are thrilled that our product is being recognized and embraced as an educational tool for young minds," said Matthew Growney, Founder & CEO of Isabella Products. "It is our dream to align with teachers, parents and children to promote memorable and engaging learning experiences that are additive to their existing curriculum."
He added: "With the Boston initiative, Fable is supporting the educational movement in our local community," said Growney. "We are thrilled to offer this pilot program to supplement classroom education. We strongly believe Fable's educational capabilities, combined with the Boys & Girls Club afterschool program and content from the Museum of Science, Boston will encourage students to stay engaged, in tune, and on track with their STEM curriculum."
During the 9-week session, fourth and fifth graders at the Charlestown Boys & Girls Club participate in an integrated initiative designed to encourage STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) learning beyond the standard school day. Students use the Fable tablets to learn about the 2010 earthquake disaster in Haiti, and the meaning and value of building design and structural code. The students will then apply their newfound knowledge in a hands-on engineering design challenge, creating prototypes of earthquake-resistant structures.
Fable's intuitive interface and proprietary carousel navigation allow children the freedom to explore, play, read, watch, create and work on custom projects, and share within a secure environment. Developed with the input of parents, teachers, and children, Fable is designed to make screen time a positive and motivating experience for three to 10-year olds and ensure discovery is easy, focused, and fun.
"We're really excited to learn more about how afterschool students use this new digital resource. The information we gather from this pilot will help us create curriculum resources in the future that leverage all of the opportunities that tablets have to offer," said Owen Berliner, Senior Curriculum Developer for Engineering Adventures. The afterschool curriculum was developed by the award-winning Engineering is Elementary (EiE) project at the Museum's National Center for Technological Literacy® (NCTL®), which was established by Museum president Ioannis Miaoulis in 2004 to integrate engineering into schools and museums, Nationwide.
Fable's partnership announcement follows a growing number of successful pilot tests of the tablet in elementary and afterschool programs in the Boston area and New York City. The mission of the Fable Pilot Program is to help empower teachers to introduce digital lesson plans and provide access to tablets for each student for individualized instruction that supports one-on-one learning.
Dan Buckland, Director of Academic Success of the Boys & Girls Club said: "This partnership offers our students a great opportunity to utilize the one-on-one learning capabilities of Fable to optimize the value of content learned during school hours in an inspired afterschool setting. The Boys and Girls Club strives to consistently provide after school experiences that enhance the school curriculum in a fun engaging way. Fable coupled with the Museum of Science content is a great way to continue those formative efforts."
Isabella Products, Inc. created Fable in conjunction with its school pilot programs, partnering with school districts and community non-profits to develop personalized lesson plans for students and provide a safe and fun way to explore and interact with educational content that supports curriculum. Isabella will continue to offer Fable pilot programs to schools in the U.S. and abroad throughout the next year. Schools and non-profits that would like to get involved in 2016 should contact Nancy Hamilton at [email protected].
About the Boys & Girls Club of Boston:
Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston is a 501(c)3 whose mission is to help young people, especially those who need us most, build strong character and realize their full potential as responsible citizens and leaders. We do this by providing: a safe haven filled with hope and opportunity ongoing relationships with caring adults life-enhancing programs. We serve approximately 15,000 children and teens, ages 6 to 18, in our Clubs, and through our programs and partnerships. Our approach focuses on six core initiatives: Arts; Education; Leadership; Life Skills; Sports, Fitness and Recreation; and Technology. During the summer, many of our Clubs run summer camp programs for children and leadership programs for teens. See more at: http://www.bgcb.org.
About the Museum of Science, Boston:
One of the world's largest science centers and Boston's most attended cultural institution, the Museum introduces nearly 1.4 million visitors a year to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) via dynamic programs and hundreds of interactive exhibits. Founded in 1830, the Museum is the nation's first science center with a comprehensive strategy and infrastructure to foster technological literacy in museums and schools nationwide.
In 2015, its NCTL received the National Science Board's Public Service Award. NCTL curricula have reached 9.5 million students and 104,000 teachers. The Museum's 10,000-square-foot Hall of Human Life draws on the latest discoveries in the life sciences to engage visitors in their own biology and health. Other highlights include The Science Behind Pixar (through Jan 10, 2016), the Thomson Theater of Electricity, Charles Hayden Planetarium, Mugar Omni Theater, Gordon Current Science & Technology Center, Butterfly Garden and 4-D Theater. Reaching over 20,000 teens a year worldwide via the Intel Computer Clubhouse Network, the Museum also leads a 10-year, $41 million National Science Foundation-funded Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network of science museums. Visit http://www.mos.org. Follow the Museum of Science on Twitter at @MuseumOfScience or Facebook at www.facebook.com/museumofscience.
About Fable:
Fable is a tablet designed to give children the freedom to explore, learn, play, read, create, work on custom projects, and share within a safe and secure environment, on a tablet all their own. Because there is no browser, parents and teachers can rely on safe content, free of in-app purchasing, advertising, or inappropriate material, allowing young minds to get the most enriching experiences out of time spent with their Fable. Though Fable is designed exclusively for children, adults have full control over content and activities through the password-protected cloud-based site VizitMe.com, which offers a carefully curated collection of handpicked books, videos, games, and custom projects from some of the best children's publishers like Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Hachette Group), FarFaria, and Toca Boca. The tablet is currently available for purchase at VizitMe.com as well as prime retailers: Walmart, Best Buy, Kmart, Sears, B&H Photo Video, and InMotion Entertainment at airport stores across the country. Fable was named a Silver NAPPA Award winner in 2015. Follow Fable on social media: facebook.com/FableKids, twitter.com/FableKids, instagram.com/FableKids and YouTube.
For press inquiries, please contact Atrium PR:
Adrienne Scordato, [email protected], 917.402.5377
Gabrielle Fratangelo, [email protected], 732.598.0383
SOURCE Isabella Products, Inc.
Share this article