Multimedia | News

STEM Video Site Helps District Transition to New Science Standards

• By Stephen Noonoo
• 08/27/14

Thanks to a new partnership with Carolina Biological, students and teachers at Sumter (SC) School District are gaining access to a large collection of online videos around STEM topics from video archives such as Getty Images and NASA.

The partnership sets up two sites, Tigtag for elementary students and Twig for older ones, which each feature short custom edited videos about two to three minutes long. Videos cover various science topics, produced in consultation with teachers around the world with footage pulled from sources like BBC Motion Gallery and the Science Photo Library. To help teachers flesh out fuller lessons, various quizzes and activities around the videos have also been created.

Twig, for example, features around 1,500 videos on biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, and math as well as a section devoted to science experiments (a number of free videos, like the one pictured above on dark matter, are also available). Tigtag videos are tailored for younger students and include lesson plans and other activities.

According to the district, the videos have helped them transition from state science standards to the Next Generation National Science Framework -- a more rigorous program.

"We’ve long depended on Carolina Biological for supplies to support our hands-on science teaching. But, these new Twig resources help expand our teachers' reach and engage students in a way that is meaningful and, more important, relevant to our students who seek a more 'tech savvy' learning experience," said district science coordinator Lori Smith in a statement.