[SatNews] Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) and WGBH, the Boston-based public broadcaster, have announced a new initiative designed to help support educators' classroom adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
The initiative—Teaching NGSS Engineering Design Through Media—aims to provide teachers with the resources they need to bring engineering to life for K-12 students.
The Next Generation Science Standards raise engineering design to the same level as science in the classroom, fully integrating technology, engineering and mathematics into science education across all grades.
"Implementation of NGSS will challenge educators to introduce new concepts and practices into their teaching," said Mary Haggerty, director of Media Engagement at WGBH. "At the classroom level, educators have indicated they need guidance on how to integrate these standards into their teaching. We are thrilled to partner with Raytheon to provide teachers with the resources and support they need to cultivate an understanding of engineering in their students."
Teaching NGSS Engineering Design Through Media will help fuel transition to the new standards and inform administrators and teachers as they develop new frameworks for teaching science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) over the coming school year.
Through the use of proven WGBH programming—such as Design Squad, FETCH! With Ruff Ruffman and NOVA scienceNOW—teachers will have the resources needed to engage students and show them that engineers are professionals who develop creative and practical solutions – that they invent, design and create things that matter. The resources will be available through PBS LearningMedia, a free, on-demand digital media service for educators and students. To date, 1.2 million educators have registered access to the service.
As part of the initiative, three webinar—for elementary, middle school and high school teacher—will be offered in January 2014 to provide an overview of the Next Generation Science Standards as they relate to engineering. The Museum of Science, Boston will join WGBH for the elementary grades webinar, sharing resources from two of their programs: Engineering is Elementary® and Engineering Adventures. These resources will also be featured as part of the collection available on PBS LearningMedia later this year.
"Raytheon is committed to cultivating the next generation of engineers," said Pamela Erickson, Raytheon's vice president of Corporate Affairs. "We look forward to working with WGBH to bring these important professional development resources to teachers nationwide through the highly respected PBS LearningMedia brand."
WGBH is regarded as an important leader in educational content production. In 2002, WGBH launched Teachers' Domain, which served as a foundation for PBS LearningMedia. WGBH also serves as Massachusetts' digital media partner on two ambitious federally supported Race to the Top initiatives aimed at reshaping learning for the 21st century.
Raytheon's website: https://www.raytheon.com/
