Discovery Communications Commits STEM Resources to Schools in Houston and Atlanta
In conjunction with the 2015 White
House Science Fair on March
23, Discovery Communications and two of its subsidiaries, the
Science Channel
and Discovery
Education, unveiled palns to launch a new initiative called "Support
Our Science," that will provide one school each in Houston and
Atlanta with
materials for a comprehensive program in science, technology,
engineering and
math (STEM) education.
The announcement of the Discovery Communications
commitment
was one of several made during the science fair that amounted to $240
million
in private-sector donations to improve STEM education in American
schools. Also
during the day, a number of young scientists presented their projects
that won
science competitions around the country for President Barack Obama to
see and
experience.
The Support Our Science initiative will provide one
school
each in the Houston Independent School District and Fulton County
Schools with:
- Free access to Science Channel programming;
- A professional development program from Discovery
Education
for educators;
- Digital resources like Discovery Education Streaming,
Discovery
Education Science Techbook and the Discovery Education Math Techbook;
- A hands-on science curriculum, the Discovery
Education STEM
Camp;
- A STEM lab with computers, tablets and science tools; and
- An attitudinal study to measure the impact of the
program.
A third school will also be awarded
the STEM program
through a competition that will begin May 1 and that parents and
teachers can submit
entries for.
"Thank you, Science Channel and Discovery Education,
for
developing this program for our educators and students," said Fulton
County
Schools Superintendent of Academics Scott Muri.
The Science Channel is a television network with
science
programming that reaches 76 million households in the United States and Discovery
Education
provides standards-based digital content and professional development
for K-12
teachers and students. Both are divisions of Discovery Communications.
"Children possess a natural curiosity about the world
around
them, how things work and why things happen," said Science Channel
General
Manager Rita Mullin. "Science Channel is excited to help students ignite
that
natural curiosity into a passion."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.