EdCircuit StaffCharlotte, NC (Thursday, July 20, 2023)—Students across Indiana’s Vigo County School Corporation (VCSC) will add new, high-quality learning resources to their digital book bags this Fall thanks to a new partnership with worldwide edtech leader Discovery Education. In this new collaboration, Discovery Education will provide district students in grades K-12 exciting new digital and print services that will help them explore their curiosity about all subjects. In addition, district educators will receive in-depth professional learning opportunities that will help them integrate their new resources into instruction and create engaging lessons that prepare students for success beyond the classroom.
VCSC is one of Vigo County’s largest employers, serving nearly 14,000 students across three traditional high schools, five middle schools, 15 elementary schools, an alternative school, and a virtual school. VCSC works to build upon the strengths of their diverse community to create a comprehensive and engaging learning environment that supports the lifelong success of all students.
The VCSC community sees educational technology’s potential to advance relationships between teachers and their students, shrink long-standing accessibility gaps, and increase the depth of learning experiences for all children. So, to support district goals in the sciences and other academic disciplines, school administrators sought high-quality digital resources that featured hands-on components and could easily be integrated into teaching and learning. Following a thorough review of available solutions, VCSC’s administration selected the following Discovery Education resources for K-5 classrooms:
Discovery Education Experience. Connecting educators to a vast collection of high-quality, standards-aligned content, ready-to-use digital lessons, intuitive quiz and activity creation tools, and professional learning resources, Discovery Education provides an enhanced learning platform that facilitates engaging, daily instruction in any environment. These resources, sourced from trusted partners, are aligned to state and national standards and help educators bring the outside world into teaching and learning every day. Through expanded, lasting partnerships with Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, Schoology, Canvas, Brightspace, and Clever, integrating Discovery Education’s K-12 learning platform into existing IT architecture is easier than ever.
Discovery Education Science Techbooks. The Discovery Education Science Techbook series is a comprehensive, research-backed science solution for grades K-12. Used in classrooms across the United States, the Science Techbooks for elementary students drives engagement with exclusive, interactive digital content and companion printed resources. The virtual and hands-on investigations, STEM activities, and instructional supports within Techbook enhance the delivery of impactful, blended instruction, in person or at a distance. Available with the Science Techbooks are coordinated teacher guides offering unit, concept, and lesson overviews, standards connections, and differentiation activities that inform instructional planning and guide three-dimensional learning. Teacher editions also provide flexible pacing options, embedded teacher notes, and pathways for learning that support diverse learners.
Mystery Science. Mystery Science, which joined the family of Discovery Education services in 2020 and has won SIIA’s Best Science Instructional Solution CODiE award for Grades PK-8, provides K-5 educators simple-to-use, open-and-go, hands-on lessons that inspire students to love science. Each lesson begins by posing a question commonly asked by young students. Students then explore these questions through interactive videos featuring real-world visuals fostering a sense of wonder and actively supporting student engagement in the accompanying discussion prompts. Mystery Science simplifies prep for teachers, making the integration of this resource into classroom instruction simple. Plus, all K-5 science lessons are now available in Spanish, with accompanying videos featuring authentic Spanish narration and Spanish text-on-screen (for discussion questions, vocabulary words, and step-by-step instructions). Editable, ready-to-use worksheets and assessments are also available in both English and Spanish.
Discovery Education Experience and the Science Techbook for Chemistry and Physics will also be used by VCSC’s high school students and educators, as will Discovery Education’s Pivot Interactives service. Pivot, which joined the Discovery Education family of services in 2022, makes teaching science with active learning and scientific phenomena engaging and easy. Launched in 2012 by two visionary educators, the platform provides users with more than 10,000 authentic, video-based science interactives crafted by Pivot’s expert curriculum team and teacher community. These resources, tied to state and national standards, are infused with research-based teaching practices and are simple to integrate throughout the instructional cycle.
In addition to digital resources, all VCSC educators using Discovery Education services will receive dedicated professional development from Discovery Education’s team of professional learning experts. These learning opportunities for teachers help school systems recognize the full return on their edtech investment. Through these interactive professional development sessions, participants will learn best practices for integrating their new digital resources into instruction. Effective professional development increases student engagement in learning and supports the continued academic development of all students.
Finally, all VCSC educators now enjoy access to the Discovery Education Network. A global community of education professionals, the Discovery Education Network connects members across school systems and around the world through social media, virtual conferences, and in-person events, fostering valuable idea sharing and inspiration.
“Discovery Education is thrilled to partner with the talented team at the Vigo County School Corporation,” said Kyle Talavera, Discovery Education’s Manager of Education Partnerships. “Their dedication to thoughtfully integrating technology into instruction advances their mission to support the success of all students. We are excited to be a part of this important work.”
For more information about Discovery Education’s award-winning digital resources and professional learning services—which can be purchased with federal stimulus funds—visit www.discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Twitter and LinkedIn.
