Stanley Black & Decker and Discovery Education Launch National ‘Making for Good Challenge’ to Empower a New Generation of Innovators to Address Environmental and Societal Needs

Silver Spring, Md.,Wednesday, October 2, 2019 /3BL Media/ – Stanley Black & Decker, the world's largest tools and storage company and leader in engineered fastening and security, and Discovery Education, the leading provider of standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms, today announced the Making for Good Challenge, a challenge encouraging students to develop a unique product that addresses societal and environmental needs. 

An extension of Discovery Education and Stanley Black & Decker’s Innovation Generation: Making an Impact program, the Making for Good Challenge asks high school students to work in teams of two-to-four to design a product solution that will help solve an environmental or societal problem in their home, school or community. Student teams must develop a product design blueprint and submit a 60 – 90 second video discussing the problem, how their product can help solve it, and explain how they used the engineering design process – ask, imagine, plan, create, test and improve. Overall, the initiative aims to cultivate student collaboration and Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) learning acceleration in learning communities nationwide. 

Prizes for winning submissions, include:
Grand Prize Team: $15,000 and Stanley Black & Decker Virtual Mentorship 
First Runner-Up Team: $10,000 and Stanley Black & Decker Prize Pack 
Second Runner-Up Team: $5,000 and Stanley Black & Decker Prize Pack 

“Stanley Black & Decker is committed to fostering a spirit of STEAM learning in building, making and doing in the next generation of innovators, and we are excited to partner with Discovery Education to advance the future of engineering design-based learning and education,” said Deb Geyer, Stanley Black & Decker corporate responsibility officer. “The ‘Innovation Generation: Making an Impact’ program aims to inspire students to develop the skills necessary to create the future and the ‘Making for Good Challenge’ provides them with the tools and access needed to successfully achieve that goal.” 

Innovation Generation: Making an Impact complements Stanley Black & Decker’s existing maker-focused efforts – including Makerspace collaboration initiatives with universities and other organizations, global apprenticeship programs, sponsorship of WorldSkills International, and the company's recent announcement of its Manufactory 4.0 initiative that includes job retraining efforts and the STANLEY+Techstars Additive Manufacturing Accelerator program.

“Discovery Education and Stanley Black & Decker, in launching the Making for Good Challenge, have one shared mission, vision and goal – to bridge the gap between classroom and real-world application for new generation of creators,” said Lori McFarling, Discovery Education senior vice president and chief marking officer. “We’re excited to showcase the program’s winning submissions, while continuing to encourage students to think outside the box.”

Powered by Stanley Black & Decker’s tools, with powerful brands such as DEWALT, CRAFTSMAN, STANLEY, IRWIN and BLACK+DECKER, together with Discovery Education’s unparalleled classroom reach, Innovation Generation: Making an Impact aims to drive student learning with a premiere, STEAM-focused, cross-disciplinary initiative that invites students and educators to explore their worlds through building, making and doing. Innovation Generation resources help students build the important critical thinking, collaboration, and communication skills needed for success beyond the classroom, and the program’s no cost tools can be accessed online at innovation-gen.com.

Alongside Stanley Black & Decker experts, Innovation Generation will provide students with opportunities to learn about diverse STEAM careers in context – connecting them with examples of real-world applications. Exploring direct connections to vocational STEAM, young innovators will engage in Virtual Field Trips, maker activities and a national student challenge that represents the innovation continuum. This will ensure that students are exposed first-hand to how math, science, technology, creativity and teamwork can lead to technological advancements in our everyday lives.

“The ‘Innovation Generation’ partnership between Discovery Education and Stanley Black & Decker opens a world of innovation for our students and builds on the ideas of maker spaces in schools, and the ‘Making for Good Challenge’ takes students on an extraordinary journey through the process of exploring STEAM in action,” said Becky Goddard, Pine Lake Preparatory School instructional technology specialist, Mooresville, N.C. “As an educator, I’m always seeking ways to make learning exciting for my students and this initiative provides digitally immersive learning experiences that prepare them with rigorous STEAM competencies for careers of the future.”

Making for Good Challenge opens today and will close on January 30, 2020. Winners will be announced in Spring 2020. U.S. high school students can register and find more information about the challenge here.

Learn more about Innovation Generation: Making an Impact at innovation-gen.com and at discoveryeducation.com. Stay connected through social media on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest @DiscoveryEd.

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About Stanley Black & Decker: 
Stanley Black & Decker is a purpose-driven, $14 billion revenue industrial organization. Stanley Black & Decker has 61,000 employees in more than 60 countries and operates the world’s largest tools and storage business, the world’s second-largest commercial electronic security services company, a leading engineered fastening business as well as Oil & Gas and Infrastructure businesses. The company’s iconic brands include Black & Decker, Bostitch, CRAFTSMAN, DEWALT, FACOM, Irwin, Lenox, Porter Cable and Stanley. Stanley Black & Decker is a company for the makers and innovators, the craftsmen and the caregivers, and those doing the hard work to make the world a better place. Learn more at stanleyblackanddecker.com.

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’s services are available in approximately half of U.S. classrooms and primary schools in the U.K. and reach over 5 million educators and 51 million students in more than 90 countries. 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 DiscoveryEducation.com.

Contacts:
Discovery Education
Charmion N. Kinder 
CKinder@Discoveryed.com
(240) 274-2173 phone

Stanley Black & Decker
Abigail Dreher
Abigail.Dreher@sbdinc.com
(860) 515-2759 phone