Company Enlists Tony Hawk, Dave Mirra, Mia Hamm and Lisa Leslie to Show Teens
How Math = Success; Announces $1 Million Grant Program
WALTHAM, Mass., Nov. 10, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- American students are
performing poorly in math. According to the most recent data (2003) collected
by the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), U.S. 8th
graders ranked 15th of 45 countries surveyed. Today, the Raytheon Company is
announcing a new program - MathMovesU - aimed at improving math and science
education among middle school-aged students in America. Raytheon, a leader in
defense and government electronics, space, information technology, technical
services, and business and special mission aircraft, joins the ranks of
companies as varied as General Electric, IBM, Toyota and Kellogg's, which have
all introduced math and science education initiatives since the 2005 school
year began.
"A Raytheon survey of American middle schoolers found that most of them
would rather clean their rooms, eat their vegetables, take out the garbage,
and go to the dentist than sit down with their math homework," said William H.
Swanson, Raytheon Chairman and CEO.
"These are intelligent young students. As adults, we have a
responsibility to make math more interesting. As business leaders we need to
be concerned about our future competitiveness in the global marketplace."
Raytheon's national survey of students grades 6 - 8 also found that these
same sixth to eighth graders say they want to do better in math (67%) and that
doing well in math is important to them (94%). The vast majority of middle
school students surveyed report that they would be more interested in math if
they learned about celebrities (79%) or were shown how people in music, sports
and video games use math in their jobs (81%).
"If we can help young students to understand that math can be their
gateway to interesting careers by showing them that their heroes think math is
important, then we're a step closer to averting a potential future shortage of
people qualified for jobs requiring science, engineering and technical
training," said Raytheon's Swanson.
Introducing "MathMovesU"
With 80,000 employees -- many of whom rely on strong math skills --
Raytheon is addressing the math and science issue by introducing an innovative
new national initiative to help change young students' attitudes and negative
perceptions of math. MathMovesU is a program designed specifically to reach
students at a time where studies(1) show performance declines in math and
science -- middle school, grades six through eight. The MathMovesU program
combines student interest in celebrities with grant money and awards to
generate new interest and excitement in math.
Raytheon has partnered with skateboard legend Tony Hawk, soccer star Mia
Hamm, basketball greats Bill Russell and Lisa Leslie, and BMX champ Dave Mirra
to promote the MathMovesU program and demonstrate how math plays a role in
"cool" careers. On mathmovesu.com, students can work on real-world
applications of math, such as calculating the degrees of turn Tony Hawk needs
to complete a signature trick, or the average points per game scored by Lisa
Leslie.
Tony Hawk said, "Kids are surprised to see the role math plays in what I
do, both in the physics of skateboarding maneuvers and in running my
skateboard business."
MathMovesU also highlights other "kid-cool" careers that rely on math,
like concert tour manager, fashion designer, video game creator, roller
coaster innovator, and ER doctor.
While MathMovesU is most certainly an education program, it's not based in
the classroom but on the Internet, where students get their entertainment and
information. At mathmovesu.com, middle school students can win awards by
answering math questions related to the MathMovesU celebrities' careers.
$1 Million Grant Program Launched
Raytheon is also providing help inside the classroom. The company
announced an annual $1 million MathMovesU grant program that will fund
classroom help for teachers; provide grants to teachers and schools to support
math education; and offer scholarships to students who write in on the Web to
tell how they would make math "cool." The company has partnered with
MATHCOUNTS, a nonprofit organization that has expertise in teaching math in a
cool way. Through mathmovesu.com, teachers can access curriculum resources
from MATHCOUNTS which has been promoting excellence in math among U.S. middle
school students through math competitions and coaching since 1984. Based on
national standards, the MATHCOUNTS curriculum is designed by educators from
the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Sponsored by the Raytheon Company, MathMovesU is a unique project designed
to "elevate math to cool" by combining middle school students' interest in
celebrities with grant money, awards and a robust MATHCOUNTS curriculum to
encourage excitement about math. The company supports MATHCOUNTS, a national
math enrichment, coaching and competition program. You can learn more about
MathMovesU and its sponsors by visiting http://www.mathmovesu.com ,
http://www.mathcounts.org , http://www.raytheon.com , and http://www.bhef.com.
1. "A Commitment to America's Future: Responding to the Crisis in
Mathematics & Science Education," Business Higher Education Forum. January
2005. Page 6.
Contact:
Theresa Renaldi
312-988-2367
trenaldi@webershandwick.com
James Fetig
781-522-5111
james.fetig@raytheon.com
SOURCE Raytheon Company
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Related links:
http://www.raytheon.com
http://www.mathmovesu.com http://www.mathcounts.org
http://www.bhef.com
CONTACT:
Theresa Renaldi of Weber Shandwick,
+1-312-988-2367, trenaldi@webershandwick.com; or James Fetig of
Raytheon Company, +1-781-522-5111, james.fetig@raytheon.com
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