Georgia’s Houston County School District Adopts New Digital Resources from Discovery Education to Create Lasting Learning Experiences
SILVER SPRING, MD (Thursday, August 19, 2021)—Georgia’s Houston County Board of Education today announced a new partnership with Discovery Education, the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Through this new collaboration, educators across the Houston County School District (HCSD) will open the 2021-2022 school year this Fall with access to a suite of award-winning digital resources they can use to create engaging learning experiences for all students.
HCSD serves approximately 30,000 students, many of whom are from military-affiliated families associated with the nearby Robins Air Force Base, on 39 campuses across Houston County. Each day, HCSD provides world-class education to a diverse student population speaking over 34 languages.
To meet the needs of its dynamic student body, HCSD sought a suite of flexible, digital teaching resources that would facilitate the creation of engaging learning experiences in either the classroom or remote learning environments. In addition, the district was looking for high quality digital science and social studies resources aligned to Georgia state standards. Following a careful review of potential science and social studies solutions, the district selected the following services from Discovery Education for teacher and student use:
Discovery Education’s flexible K-12 learning 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 offers educators a recently enhanced digital platform that facilitates engaging, daily instruction in any learning environment. This resource will be accessible districtwide by all K-12 teachers and students.
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 school systems’ existing infrastructure and workflows and provides safe, secure, simple access methods for educators and students. HCSD appreciated the seamless integration with Clever for their district implementation, the company’s expanded, lasting partnerships with Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, Schoology, Canvas, Brightspace, and Clever make integrating Discovery Education’s K-12 learning platform into existing IT architecture is easier than ever.
Discovery Education Science Techbooks. Currently used in classrooms across the United States and Canada, the Science Techbook is a comprehensive, research-backed science solution. This core instructional resource will be used by HCSD students and teachers in grades K-5.
The Science Techbook series drives student engagement with exclusive phenomena and interactive content. Virtual and hands-on investigations, STEM activities and a variety of instructional supports enhance the delivery of impactful, blended instruction, in person or at a distance. Available with the Science Techbooks are coordinated digital and print teacher guides offering unit, concept, and lesson overviews, standards connections, and differentiation activities to inform instructional planning and guide three-dimensional learning. Teacher editions also provide flexible pacing options, embedded teacher notes, and Pathways for Learning to address diverse learners.
Mystery Science. Mystery Science—which joined the family of Discovery Education services in 2020—is an easy-to-use digital resource featuring 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. The lesson concludes with an activity incorporating basic supplies commonly found in a classroom or at home. 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? HCSD students and educators in grades K-5 will have access to this resource.
Discovery Education Coding With Discovery Education Coding, elementary and middle school students are inspired to learn important coding concepts as they develop computational thinking skills through decomposition, logical reasoning, and problem solving. This resource will be used by HCSD students and teachers in grades K-8. Based in part on the award-winning Discovery Education Coding service used by teachers across the United Kingdom, the U.S. version of Coding features a wide array of coding resources that help students take coding from concept to reality.
Together, these resources provide district teachers a strong foundation on which they can build engaging, high-quality educational experiences in all disciplines for students at home, in school, or wherever learning is taking place.
“The Houston County School District believes that by providing elementary school students a strong background in the sciences, we are helping them develop a set of critical thinking and reasoning skills that will serve them well no matter their future course of study or career,” said Dr. Tonya Woolfolk, HCDS’s Coordinator of K-5 Science. “While Discovery Education’s recently enhanced K-12 platform will be integrated into teaching districtwide, I am especially excited about the new digital Science and Coding resources from Discovery Education. I believe these resources will have a great impact on instruction that will grow more evident as students progress through their careers here. I’m excited to get these new services into the hands of teachers and students.”
The district’s partnership with Discovery Education also provides all teachers access to the Discovery Education Community. A global community 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 networking, idea sharing, and inspiration.
“The Houston County School District takes tremendous pride in providing a world class learning experience for their students,” said Daniel Gammage, Discovery Education’s Senior Manager of Education Partnerships. “That dedication to excellence, and to basing decisions on what is best for kids, is evident in their work to integrate high quality digital resources into instruction. We are excited to be a part of this effort and are looking forward to a successful rollout at the beginning of school.”
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 140 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