School Pilots

In the short time that Nova5000 has been on the market the reviews and feedback received have been extremely positive. The product has already been adopted for a number of sizable 1:1 computing programs, including state-wide by West Virginia. Educators are very impressed how quickly students can pick up a Nova5000 and immediately start to use it. They also feel there is enough computing power to cover the entire school day's computing needs...a message emphasized by Nicholas Negroponte in his keynote speech at NECC this year. Nova5000 research and development revolves around making the Nova5000 100% compliant with school needs ‚ and the educators are recognizing that fact.

State of West Virginia
Situation: RFP for science equipment and PD to enhance skills of science teachers
Grade Level(s): High School
Purpose: Train 12 master teachers who then will train other HS teachers.
Districts had to commit to purchase of 12 Nova science bundles as part of training.
Why Fourier: Affordable, flexible science solution.

Goose Creek, TX, USA
Situation: Medium size, suburban district
Grade Level(s): 6
Purpose: Support and accelerate existing curriculum with personal learning devices
Why Fourier: Easy-to-use, loaded with applications and teachers love it.

Director of Instructional Technology for Goose Creek
"Goose Creek CISD is very excited to be one of the first districts to experience the benefits of the partnership between Fourier Systems and GoKnow Learning. Our experience with both of these companies has been extremely positive. Our sixth grade students will be introduced to the Nova5000 using the HLE and PAAM environment later this year. We know our students and teachers are going to love this easy-to-use wireless mobile learning device loaded with applications that will support and accelerate their existing curriculum."
Sharon Sprayberry,
Director of Instructional Technology for Goose Creek CISD, USA

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Yolo County, CA, USA
Situation: Small county office outside Sacramento
Grade Level(s): MS & HS math and science teachers
Purpose: PD program to enhance math and science skills of teachers via Math and Science Partnership Grant
Why Fourier: Science and math programs bundled with applications familiar

Bob Bachmeier, Yolo County Office of Education
In our annual summer technology trainings, we had been integrating PalmOne Zire 72’s into our teacher’s curriculum. Then we took a risk, being the first group to order the NOVA 5000’s. It has paid off because we have empowered our teachers to integrate math and science in ways they had not been able to before.

The capability of the NOVA 5000 to display onto a screen or larger monitor has been more powerful than we anticipated. The portability lends itself to quick set-up and use almost anywhere in the classrooms – It is so much easier than setting up a lap-top next to the projector.

Our teachers found that the software is powerful, friendly to learn and use, and is not intimidating (Portrait 4 and Multilog).

Our grant (No Child Left Behind funded) had an emphasis on increasing the content knowledge of teachers in math and science. We found that the NOVA5000s are educational tools for both, teachers and students.

Our teachers are finding how easy it is to have students collect data, then they find out how their students feel like they own that data and are much more willing to do something with it. They get excited manipulating and analyzing information they relate to and own.

The day we got our first shipment of NOVA’s, I took one home to explore. In seeing it turned on for the first time, my 13 year old daughter exclaimed, “That is way cool Dad, can I use it?” She was immediately able to collect data using the probes, but like the wireless internet the best, asking, “can I IM my friends?”

Teachers found it to be almost transparent moving from Microsoft Office and the NOVA’s productivity tools (Textmaker and Planmaker) and vise-versa. This increased their ‘technology confidence’ immediately. 

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