Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


ISTE Members Gain Access to Discovery Ed STEM Content

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 02/21/19

STEM Connect is a new Discovery Education product that provides STEM-oriented challenges for K-8 students to solve. Now, members of the International Society for Technology and Education (ISTE) will gain free access to the online service through July 31, 2019.

The challenges included in STEM Connect were inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges for Engineering. The idea is to encourage students to develop and apply solutions to real challenges facing the world. While elementary students take on personal, local problems in the curriculum, middle school students face more complex and global problems. For example, in one assignment students are asked to help somebody design a prosthetic for his sister, while in another they're asked to figure out how to build a well for a community in Kenya without easy access to water.

The program also includes "career connections," to teach learners about various STEM careers related to the activities they're working on. In some of the units, students connect with others around the world through "GlobalLab, an online laboratory, to share their data and work with others.

"Innovative services like Discovery Education's STEM Connect can play an important role in engaging students in teaching and learning, and we are proud to bring this robust digital resource to our members," said Richard Culatta, ISTE's CEO, in a statement.

ISTE members can learn more about their free access on this Discovery Education landing page. The two organizations said that Discovery will host a series of webinars to highlight the service's features and show how to integrate it into the classroom; the schedule will be posted on the landing page.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Girl playing video games

    5 Lessons Video Game Designers Can Teach Educators About Learning

    Video game designers spend an enormous amount of time studying what keeps people engaged when something becomes difficult. They have become very good at helping people persist. Schools should pay attention.

  • A computer screen shows a phishing email warning message in a modern office

    AI Platform Behind 12,000 E-mail Breaches Dismantled

    Microsoft has shut down EvilTokens, a cybercrime service that used AI to help attackers break into e-mail accounts, study their victims, and build convincing financial scams.

  • lock icons, shields, and glowing data paths

    Studies Suggest AI Is Accelerating Familiar Cyber Attacks

    Research released around the recent Black Hat USA 2026 conference demonstrates that artificial intelligence is increasing the speed and scale of cybersecurity activity without replacing the attack methods defenders already face.

  • circuit patterns

    Anthropic Intros Lower-Cost Claude Sonnet 5

    Anthropic has launched Claude Sonnet 5, positioning the model as its most autonomous mid-tier offering to date and a lower-cost alternative to its flagship Opus 4.8 system. The company said the model can plan multi-step tasks, operate tools such as browsers and terminals, and complete agentic work at a level that previously required larger and more expensive models.