NEWS - Education & Colleges

SBJ Staff Report

Nov 7, 2011 - The City of Savannah has teamed up with the Savannah-Chatham Public Schools system, Youth Futures Authority and IBM to bring technology to the youngest students in Chatham County.

IBM has awarded a grant to bring 30 Young Explorer Learning Centers to preschool programs in Chatham schools and community facilities targeting children between the ages of 4 and 7. Officials from the City, Youth Futures Authority and Savannah Chatham County Public School System joined students Monday to demonstrate the equipment at a news conference at 1:30 p.m. at the East Broad K-8 School, 400 East Broad St.

The three agencies teamed up to apply for the IBM grant. Youth development and bridging the digital divide in Savannah have been major focuses of Mayor Otis Johnson’s during the past eight years, according to this office. Youth Futures has been increasingly targeting the developmentally crucial years of age 0 to 5.

The IBM Centers feature the ‘Young Explorer,’ a computer housed in brightly colored, child-friendly furniture and equipped with award-winning educational software to help children learn and explore concepts in math, science and language.  The computer centers can also help children learn important socialization skills such as cooperation and sharing, which are essential to classroom success.  In addition, teachers participating in the program become more confident about incorporating technology into their classrooms.

The Young Explorer Learning Centers are the centerpiece of IBM’s KidSmart Early Learning grant program developed in 1998 to help reduce the digital divide, especially in urban areas, where it was becoming apparent that children from less affluent backgrounds needed access to specialized technology tools and educational materials to better prepare them to enter school.

IBM is focused on increasing the number of children entering into math, science and engineering, and believes that success in early childhood learning is a critical step.  Since the inception of KidSmart, IBM has donated more than 55,000 Young Explorer learning centers to schools and nonprofit organizations in 60 countries, serving more than 10 million students and 100,000 teachers.