The program's concept began in 1987, when teachers and parents nationwide were seeking effective ways to instill positive health skills in children and to prevent drug use. To meet that need authors Kent Davis and David GoWell designed an interactive school-based group presentation. To make the health concepts powerful and unforgettable for children, they invented a dynamic interactive robot teacher to present the entire show, teaching children that their bodies are the priceless irreplaceable “million dollar machine” for which the program is named.
The next challenge was creating an effective curriculum so teachers and parents could reinforce the life skills lessons throughout the school year. In consultation with educators, psychologists and drug use prevention experts, the authors reviewed curricula from 19 states before organizing the concepts included in the original MDM lessons. More than 450,000 children participated in the Million Dollar Machine Life Skills Enrichment pilot program.
Today, more than 3,200,000 children have experienced the MDM concepts. The development team has continued to work with classroom teachers evaluating content and teaching techniques as well as student comprehension and retention.
Author and Publisher, Kent Davis reflects, “For over 20 years it has been a pleasure to create and refine these activities with expert educators, classroom teachers, parents and students throughout the United States. A personal hands-on effort has been a major factor in making the MDM lessons so effective and easy to use.” The program’s effectiveness at inspiring children to adopt healthy behaviors and avoid drug use earned it a Presidential Award at the White House.
In 2007, a trial program gave teachers as well as parents direct internet access to the MDM lessons for the first time. Their positive feedback and the demand for effective life skills training inspired this revised edition of the Million Dollar Machine lesson collection for teachers, mentors and parents worldwide.
The 2009 edition published by DatAsia, Inc., updates all the field-tested, scientifically validated exercises of the original school-based curriculum. Kent Davis notes, “Parent-child learning has always been a vital component of our life skills education approach. With this revised edition, MDM is even more accessible to parents, allowing them to share all the simple, yet profound, learning activities with their children.”
The Million Dollar Machine Life Skills Enrichment Program offers two age-appropriate lesson collections for grades K-3 and 4-6. Each includes simple guidelines for effective school and home use; educator designed, classroom-proven lessons; 20 age-appropriate learning objectives; more than 600 learning activities; 40 child/parent worksheets; multiple learning styles; vocabulary exercises; and internet resources.
Parents and Teachers can download a FREE sample lesson plan at www.lifeskills4kids.com. A digital download of the complete collection is available on the website for $9.95 each. Order the convenient printed version ( K-3 or 4-6 )direct from Amazon.com for $19.95 each.
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