SILVER SPRING, MD (Tuesday, June 14, 2022)—Early learners in grades K-2 across Oklahoma’s Yukon Public Schools (YPS) will return to the classroom for the 2022-2023 school year with a new suite of dynamic digital services from long-time district partner Discovery Education. Produced by the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports instruction wherever it takes place, these new resources will empower educators teaching the district’s youngest students to create and deliver engaging science lessons inspiring a life-long love of science.
Located in east central Canadian County, YPS serves more than 9,000 students in the city of Yukon, and sections of nearby Oklahoma City and Richland. During the 2021-2022 school year, YPS teachers and administrators sought a set of digital science resources for use in K-2 classrooms districtwide. Specifically, YPS sought science resources for K-2 students that would make science easy, fun, and memorable, support the development of scientific questioning and reasoning skills, foster student understanding of scientific investigations, and grow student curiosity.
Following an in-depth review of available resources, the district elected to expand its multiyear partnership with Discovery Education, whose services are already in use across the district. The new Discovery Education resources coming to K-2 classrooms are:
The Discovery Education platform.
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 educators an enhanced learning platform which facilitates engaging, daily instruction in any learning environment.
Discovery Education’s team continues adding, contextualizing, and organizing exciting new content and timely and relevant resources to the platform each month in response to current events and the ever-evolving needs of educators. 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.
The K-12 learning platform is designed to work within the school systems’ existing infrastructure and workflows and provides safe, secure, simple access methods for educators and students. 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.
Mystery Science.
Mystery Science features ready-to-teach multimedia science and STEM lessons for K-5 students. Each lesson begins by posing a question commonly asked by young students, which is followed by a series of brief videos and prompts used to guide class discussion. Mystery Science lessons cover a wide range of questions children wonder about, including Where do rivers flow? Could a volcano pop up where you live? Why do the stars come out at night? and How far can a whisper travel? Mystery Science lessons conclude with a hands-on activity incorporating basic supplies commonly found in a classroom or at home.
“Selecting resources empowering educators to capitalize on students’ sense of wonder and natural curiosity was a key goal of this adoption,” said YPS Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Desarae Witmer. “By selecting these resources this year, our team will have time to align them to the district’s lessons, and our teachers will have the summer to familiarize themselves with their capabilities. This will help us begin to integrate these services into instruction right when school opens this fall.”
YPS educators using Discovery Education resources enjoy access to the Discovery Education Community. A global network of education professionals, the Discovery Education Community 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 excited to broaden its partnership with the Yukon Public Schools,” said Duane Waber, Discovery Education’s Manager of Education Partnerships. “The school district has created a thoughtful plan to build engaging learning environments for young students and we are proud to support their work.”
For more information about Discovery Education’s digital resources and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.com and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Twitter and LinkedIn.
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About Discovery Education
Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Through its award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, and innovative classroom tools, Discovery Education helps educators deliver equitable learning experiences engaging all students and supporting higher academic achievement on a global scale. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 100 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Discovery, Inc., Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and trusted organizations to empower teachers with leading edtech solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.
Contact
Stephen Wakefield
Discovery Education
Phone: 202-316-6615
Email: swakefield@discoveryed.com