The Home Depot and Discovery Education Partner to Support Student Participation in Science Fairs and Drive Deeper Engagement in Science and STEAM Education
Silver Spring, Md. (Friday, September 22, 2017) – The Home Depot and Discovery Education, the leading provider of digital content and professional development for K-12 classrooms, today announced a joint effort to support student engagement in science and STEAM education. Together, the companies have relaunched Science Fair Central, a website designed to provide the 12 million K-12 students participating in science fairs and STEAM events nationwide materials that will ignite their curiosity and support the development of creative, innovative, and impactful projects.
Specifically, Science Fair Central supports students participating in Science Fairs and STEAM events by providing useful resources such as project starters, information on scientific processes and engineering presentations, as well as material checklists and information on managing projects. The website also contains resources that help prepare parents and science fair coordinators to assist students in their efforts. Parent-focused content includes useful advice on how best to help students, what a completed project should look like, and printable material lists. Additionally, there is content available to support science fair coordinators in making sure their local science fairs run smoothly and efficiently.
In addition to these resources, Discovery Education and The Home Depot will promote student interest in STEAM by offering several types of fun-filled activities that can be used in the classroom. The new Maker Corner activities include hands-on, standards-aligned STEAM lessons and material lists for educators to guide students in critical, creative thought and strategy. These initiatives are modules specifically focused on environmental awareness, design and sustainability, such as: “Beehive Basics,” “Upcycled Lamp,” and “Armadillo Architecture.”
To nurture student interest in science and STEAM outside the classroom, Science Fair Central also features details on The Home Depot’s in-store Kids Workshops. Now in its 20th year, the Kids Workshops program provides children ages 5-12 the opportunity to build a design project with the help of their parents at their local Home Depot on the first Saturday of every month. More than 55 million kids have attended Kids Workshops since 1997, inspiring their ingenuity to build nearly 12 million wooden tool boxes, bird houses, fire trucks and boats. To reinforce the importance of STEAM-focused learning in everyday life, new extension activities to the Kids Workshops, in both English and Spanish, have been added to Science Fair Central. With these extensions, parents and students can continue their exploration of science and STEAM at home.
Science Fair Central also features other resources designed to grow interest in science and STEAM. These resources include HERBan Gardening module, in which family members work together to create a sustainable herb garden, and Big Fun, Small Space module, that encourages family members to work together to design and build three outdoor, interactive games. Family activities will be added to Science Fair Central regularly.
“The Home Depot is proud to work with Discovery Education to build greater student engagement in science and STEAM education where ever learning is happening,” said Lisa Destefano, vice president of marketing, at The Home Depot. “In partnership with Discovery Education, we’ve created a host of exciting resources to serve our Kindergarten through 5th Grade students, as well as expand our program to middle school and high school students. We are proud to further our mission to help develop the next generation of Doer’s.”
“Increasingly, our world is being shaped by science and STEAM,” said Lori McFarling, senior vice-president and chief marketing officer, Discovery Education. “Discovery Education applauds The Home Depot for their commitment to helping today’s students develop a greater understanding and appreciation of these topics, and we look forward to continuing to collaborate on our joint endeavor to support the success of K-12 students nationwide.”
Visit the Science Fair Central website at sciencefaircentral.com. To learn more about other resources and initiatives from Discovery Education, visit discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Facebook, follow us on Twitter at @DiscoveryEd, or find us on Instagram and Pinterest.
About Discovery Education
Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-based digital content and professional development for K-12, transforming teaching and learning with award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia content that supports the implementation of Common Core, professional development, assessment tools, and the largest professional learning community of its kind. Serving 4.5 million educators and over 50 million students, Discovery Education’s services are in half of U.S. classrooms, 50 percent of all primary schools the UK, and more than 50 countries. Discovery Education partners with districts, states and like-minded organizations to captivate students, empower teachers, and transform classrooms with customized solutions that increase academic achievement. Discovery Education is powered by Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), the number one nonfiction media company in the world. Explore the future of education at discoveryeducation.com.
About Home Depot
The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,282 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. In fiscal 2016, The Home Depot had sales of $94.6 billion and earnings of $8.0 billion. The Company employs more than 400,000 associates. The Home Depot's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index.