Discovery Education unveils Math Techbook

Dive Brief:

Discovery Education on Thursday announced the launch of its new Math Techbook.
The latest in the company's line of digital textbooks, the Math Techbook emphasizes real-world connections to subject matter while promoting conceptual learning and providing students with built-in tools that include a graphing calculator, matrix solver, and more.
Discovery's Math Techbook is available for middle school math, Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, and integrated math.

Dive Insight:

Math skills are among the most cited when it comes to those students have issues with, and that dearth of skills extends beyond school, creating trouble in the workforce. According to a whitepaper from eSchool News and Discovery, only 39% of fourth graders, 34% of eighth graders, and 23% of high school seniors score at or above "proficient" in math. With the Math Techbook, Discovery is looking to make learning math a much more fun and exciting experience for all students.

Many of the problems and assessments presented to students in the Math Techbook are presented in the same format as PARCC and Smarter Balance assessments used for testing along the Common Core, while others are gamified and can even be personalized to a student's interests based on a number of available topics. These topics stretch all the way to roller coaster design and even a zombie apocalypse.

Education Dive was on hand for a Thursday launch event at Discovery's Silver Spring, MD, headquarters, where the company had numerous classrooms set up with students and teachers from schools in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Those using the Techbook were engaged and excited — admittedly two descriptors you don't often see when it comes to kids learning math. Keep an eye out for our recap of a panel at the event featuring Mooresville, NC, Superintendent Dr. Mark Edwards, McDaniel College Professor of Education and Common Core co-author Dr. Francis "Skip" Fennell, actress and best-selling author Danica McKellar, Google Chief Innovation Evangelist Michele Weslander Quaid, and U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor Portia Wu.

For a demo of the Math Techbook, check out this video on Discovery's website. A 60-day trial of the product is also available. Additionally, Discovery will be hosting a series of professional development math academies nationwide, as well as leadership symposiums for district leaders to talk about their digital transitions.