TGR EDU: Explore offers STEM resources for your classroom
TGR EDU: Explore wrapped up the 2016/2017 school year with a flourish, launching a variety of resources in STEM for students and educators throughout the spring. During these summer months, the Tiger Woods Foundation and Discovery Education have been hard at work developing additional resources – modules, lesson plans, activities, training videos, webinars, and a Virtual Field Trip – that will be unveiled later in 2017 or early 2018. As planning gets underway for a new school year, here’s a refresher on the variety of resources currently available for educators on TGR EDU: Explore.
The idea behind TGR EDU: Explore sounded simple enough: recreate the Tiger Woods Foundation program experience in digital form and make it available for students and educators across the country, for free. Executing this idea and bringing to life Tiger’s goal of reaching millions of students started well over a year ago and will continue for years to come.
So, how do you bring innovative programs in STEM and college-access to students across the country, and eventually the world? Step one was finding the right partner, and Discovery Education has been just that. With their experience in K-12 education and expertise in developing digital content, Discovery Education was the natural partner to help bring this crazy idea to fruition.
Step two was taking the hands-on programs and activities developed and implemented at the TGR Learning Lab campuses – from Anaheim, CA, to Washington, DC, and beyond – and digitizing them.
TGR EDU: Explore launched in January with a variety of activities and lesson plans to help students discover who they are and what they want to be, to learn how to craft an academic resume and a unique personal statement and to understand how to create a meaningful college list.
Additionally, our first self-paced module, College Blueprint, debuted at this time as the centerpiece resource for high-school students as they begin to plan for life after graduation. College Blueprint is a one-of-a-kind digital module that explores the college application and admissions process, taking students on a virtual campus tour to visit a financial aid office, an admissions office and a student center.
Early in the spring, three lesson plans in STEM – Project Pipeline, Sensitive Delivery and Digital Transmission – launched on TGR EDU: Explore for teachers and students in grades 6-12. These lesson plans make STEM learning accessible to educators by focusing on real-world, project-based learning through the lens of future innovative careers.
Accompanying these assets was a Video Game Design digital lesson bundle, a four-day intensive lesson plan and digital presentation that allows teachers – even with little or no experience with video games or programming – to introduce coding in their classrooms and have students program their very own games.
Finally, later in the spring, we introduced our first digital exploration – Following Nature’s Lead – a 25-minute module for middle school students that explores biomimicry and innovation through a virtual squid dissection.
The Tiger Woods Foundation and Discovery Education continue to develop innovative resources in STEM and college access for students and educators, which will be unveiled regularly for years to come.
Be sure to check out www.tgreduexplore.org to see what’s new. Big things are coming this fall!
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