Apple is working to provide more resources for teachers and students around the globe to help people learn more about tech and STEM careers.
To celebrate World Teacher’s Day the company is sharing new ‘Everyone Can Create‘ resources to help teachers us things like iPads to teach younger students 4-12 how to code and do other STEM-related tasks that are sometimes left out of the curriculum. Apple has also added these new learning resources to its Education Community dashboard where teachers can sign up, share resources and find other activities to help with teaching STEM related lessons.
The company is also promoting its Learning Coach system which lets teachers sign up to get free coaching so they can get more out of Apple tech in the classroom to help use iPads and apps to teach kids in different ways beyond traditional book learning.
In a new 50-page impact report where Apple details all of its education initiatives, there’s a great breakdown of how Apple is helping to further technology eduction in first nations communities like the Tsilhqot’in in B.C. This school makes sure that every student has an iPad available to them and students from grades 6-12 have access to Mac computers as well. Apple has supported the school for six years for general education and helped use its assistive tech for kids that have difficulties communicating and learning traditionally.
The school’s principle also shares that over the last few years both reading and math rates at the school are improving significantly and the school is on track to have a 100 percent graduation rate among its secondary school students which is much higher than the national average for schools on reserves. You can read more about this on page 43-44 of Apple’s education impact report.
To me, Apple’s attempts to push eduction further is a great example of things the company attempts to do because it’s trying to do some good in the world. It reminds me of a quote I saw recently about Tim Cook getting angry at someone questioning Apple’s green initiatives and if that makes the Apple Stock a good return on investment. Cook responded by saying, “When we work to make our devices accessible by the blind, I don’t consider the bloody ROI” and he continues to say the same things about Apple’s investments in environmental issues, worker safety and other areas. He then continues to answer the question by saying “If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock” which I thinks speaks volumes towards how Apple is more concerned with making great products rather than making the most money.
It just so happens that making great products and doing the right things seems to resonate with people. For example, the company has invested and helped a ton with the Tsilhqot’in school system and I would bet a lot of money that those kids are going to grow up and continue to use Apple products.
Throughout all of this, it seems to me Cook feels the same way about education and I hope more Canadian teachers start to take advantage of the resources Apple provides so that more kids can get a chance to try out modern STEM fields outside of the things that are in the current Canadian curriculum. I, for one, went to school from the early 2000s and graduated post secondary in 2018 in a rural community north of Ottawa. During my school days I didn’t have access to any of the things that Apple is providing now and I often wonder if I had, would I be making tech and coding instead of just writing about it. So, it makes me happy to see more kids getting opportunities like the ones Apple is trying to provide.
Source: Apple
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