D.C. Area Educators Attend Day of Discovery, Activities and Understanding With Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Discovery Education

Nov 15, 2018 1:15 PM ET

Educators across D.C., Maryland and Virginia celebrated STEM on Wednesday, November 14 through a day of free professional development thanks to Discovery Education and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The ‘Day of Discovery’ event, part of Discovery Education and TCS’ Ignite My Future in School initiative, promotes computational thinking through a variety of educational resources and interactive activities, giving teachers unique insight and strategies to effectively teach students 21st century skills.

Hosted at Discovery Education’s headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland yesterday, this event marked the second anniversary of connecting local teachers with experts from Discovery Education and TCS to learn more about computational thinking and STEM, understanding the purpose of each and most importantly, continuing to dive into the Ignite My Future in School curriculum. Discovery Education experts have supported these educators for the past year and returned to continue to elevate their capabilities.

From interactive activities to a keynote from Discovery Education professional learning expert Dacia Jones on Computational Thinking in the Great Outdoors, this hands-on approach to professional development gave teachers the opportunity to leave ready to incorporate what they learned into their classroom while adhering to state standards. With a variety of jobs emerging due to advances in tech, it’s crucial that students are gaining the skills they need to meet the demand of these new industries. This intiative’s purpose is to bridge the gap by developing relevant skills for modern job opportunities in the new digital economy.

On a national level, Ignite My Future in School aims to engage 20,000 teachers and one million U.S. students by 2021. As a first step towards this objective, TCS and Discovery Education have already partnered with U.S. school districts in the D.C. area, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin and California to launch. Since debuting in 2017, it has provided training materials valued at more than $2 million and engaged over 185,000 students and 3,300 educators in all 50 states.