Discovery Education to Inspire the Next Generation of Coders Through New Digital Service

SILVER SPRING, Md., April 15, 2020 /3BL Media/ - Discovery Education – the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms – today introduces Coding to U.S. educators. From the creators of the award-winning Discovery Education Experience, Coding is a complete digital service supporting coding education at the elementary and middle school levels.  Beginning today, all current users of Discovery Education Experience will receive free access to Coding through the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year so that educators can provide remote learners engaging, extended learning opportunities.

Through Discovery Education Coding, students are inspired to learn important coding concepts like algorithms, sequences, and variables as they develop computational thinking skills through decomposition, logical reasoning, and problem solving. 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 block coding resources that help students take coding from concept to reality.  Providing an intuitive graphical approach to coding where students drag and drop events, objects, and actions to create and run a program, Coding’s block coding resources empower students to build their own games and apps. 

Students using Coding also learn how web pages are designed, structured, and presented with HTML mark-up and CSS exercises. Using tags, images, and links, students see first-hand how dynamic web pages are brought to life.  Likewise, Coding helps students explore how real-life coding language works by building quizzes, drawing graphics, and running simulations in Python.

Students using Coding are encouraged to express their creativity with open-ended activities at the end of each unit that stretch student imagination and challenge them to come up with their own ideas by adding new objects and actions to those used in lessons. Students can go even further within the free code area, which empowers them to write their own code using a full library of coding blocks.

Coding is structured to make engaging young students in coding easy. Each unit is broken down into bite-size chunks that enable students to master each skill before moving on to the next. Built-in code validation and a “console” area help students identify any mistakes they’ve made and ensure they’re fully supported in their learning.  Coding also includes an extensive collection of teacher support resources, including explanatory videos that simplify complex concepts and provide visual illustrations and examples of what students need to achieve in each Coding lesson.  In addition, Coding contains over 100 lesson plans that provide everything teachers need for instruction, including a quick overview, learning objectives, success criteria, vocabulary, and key questions for comprehension.

Finally, the interesting contexts used throughout Coding motivate students to produce a tangible output at the end of each lesson. Whether it’s making a space rocket fly or giving food to a hungry monster, every student will find their own unique source of inspiration within Discovery Education Coding.

"In today’s Digital Age, coding and coding literacy are important skills every child should have the opportunity to develop," said Beth Weeks, an Instructional Technology Specialist in Texas’ Sherman Independent School District. "A basic understanding of coding provides students the opportunity to shape the digital world around them, but more importantly, it fosters student creativity as it sharpens the problem-solving and numeracy skills critical to future success. I am looking forward to integrating this new digital resource into my lessons.”

Educators using Discovery Education Coding will be supported in their efforts to create digital learning environments by the Discovery Educator Network (DEN). A global community of education professionals, the DEN 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.

“Across the United Kingdom, we’ve seen our exciting Coding service embraced by primary school educators and successfully integrated into teaching and learning,” said Scott Kinney, Discovery Education’s President of K-12 Education. “We believe the U.S. version of Coding will be equally successful.  We are excited to help our nation’s teachers engage elementary and middle school students in this important discipline, and proud to offer it to educators at no-cost through the remainder of the year as part of our COVID-19 response.”

Click here to learn more about the U.S. version of Coding.

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Discovery Education is offering schools and school systems not currently using the company’s digital services free access to Discovery Education Experience. Schools accepting this offer will have access to Discovery Education’s dynamic K-12 learning platform and its ready-to-use digital lesson plans, activities, and standards-aligned resources through the remainder of the school year. In addition, Discovery Education is offering a suite of no cost resources for parents and caregivers called Daily DE that can be used at home. For more information, visit Discovery Education’s comprehensive Virtual Learning resource website dedicated to helping educators adapt their instruction to meet today’s needs.

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 Facebook, follow us on Twitter at @DiscoveryEd, or find us on Instagram and Pinterest.

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About Discovery Education

Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms. Through its award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia resources, and the largest professional learning network of its kind, Discovery Education is transforming teaching and learning, creating immersive STEM experiences, and improving academic achievement around the globe. Discovery Education currently 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 like-minded organizations to empower teachers with customized solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.DiscoveryEducation.com.