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Schools

Students Get Spatial Temporal Math Lab, (huh?) Thanks to Hyundai

With a grant from the automaker, Plavan Elementary now has a brand-new math lab. Superintendent says business partners are more important than ever to schools.

Last Monday, celebrated the opening of its new Spatial Temporal Math lab, made possible through a grant from Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America.

“We are excited,” said Zafar Brooks, the director of government relations and diversity outreach for Hyundai Motor America, in a press release. "[We are happy] to partner with our local school district to provide teachers the resources they need to better engage and prepare students.”

The ST Math program is a Web-based application that comes from the MIND research institute. Students are guided through multi-step math problems under the K-8 curriculum with the help of a penguin guide by the name of JiJi.  JiJi will use visual and audio cues to help guide students. Students will spend two 45-minute sessions working with JiJi and going through the math problems each week.

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“It’s a completely student-driven program,” Plavan Principal Julie Ballesteros said. “There’s no language barrier at all; it’s perfect for our English learning students”.

Members of the City Council, Fountain Valley School District Superintendent Marc Ecker, members of the Fountain Valley Chamber of Commerce and representatives of Hyundai Motor America were present for the ribbon cutting.

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“Business partners are needed now more than ever,” said Ecker in a press release. “We thank Hyundai Motor America for their support of public education and the Fountain Valley School District”.

According to Ballesteros, half of the elementary schools in the district do not have ST labs. “The district was setting up grants to get the other four,” she said.  “Hyundai wanted to sponsor one school to see how this program worked."

“It was an amazing experience for me,” Ballesteros said about working with Hyundai. “The kids were extremely excited about it, and it was very fulfilling to our students and staff to be recognized for what we’re doing”.

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