Discovery Brings STEM Curriculum, Professional Development to Girls Inc. Program
Discovery Education has partnered with the non-profit organization Girls Inc. to provide STEM curriculum resources and professional development to students, mentors, and teachers who participate in the Girls Inc. network, which serves about 136,000 primary and secondary students through affiliates located around North America.
Girls Inc. is an organization that helps promote academic achievement and interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) among girls and provides resources to help girls with financial and other issues. It operates in the United States and Canada.
According to information released by the two organizations, through the partnership, Discovery will provide STEM-oriented curricula to students. The curricula are aligned with the National Academy of Engineering's Grand Challenges for Engineering. These challenges (14 in total) represent major trends, potential hurdles, and opportunities that must be tackled by engineers over the next few generations. Those range from relatively straightforward tasks like making solar power more affordable and providing access to clean water to much more logistically abstract tasks like preventing nuclear terror and securing cyberspace.
Discovery provides free curricular resources through STEM Camp, which is designed to support after school and summer programs run by schools, non-profits, parent groups, and other organizations.
Discovery will also provide Girls Inc. mentors and educators with professional development to help them implement the curricula effectively.