Supplementary STEM videos serve to engage students in science learning
Students in South Carolina will soon have access to short Twig Science and Tigtag Science videos through a new statewide partnership.
The South Carolina State Board of Education approved the adoption with Carolina Biological. These supplemental STEM resources can enhance science curriculum connecting science teaching and learning to career and college readiness.
South Carolina schools and Districts can now use State Board of Education approved instructional materials funding to purchase and implement Tigtag (K-5) and Twig (level 6 and above) online learning tools to supplement core curriculum programs (such as the Smithsonian’s K-8 STC Program™ – also adopted by the state) or other textbook or inquiry programs used in South Carolina schools.
“Twig and Tigtag support student engagement and enthusiasm in science learning and are an excellent means to affordably update an existing curriculum with modern, compelling, real world STEM content,” says Bruce Wilcox, Vice President for Carolina Biological. “The collection of real world videos, animations, and activities that comprise Tigtag and Twig offer teachers ‘short bursts of learning’ that cement new concepts and drive student engagement,” continued Mr. Wilcox. “The videos are excellent tools to help connect STEM activities to applications in the real world in pursuit of college and a career.”
Developed in partnership with Twig World, a London based education content developer, Tigtag and Twig represent award winning educational resources used by science teachers throughout the world. At Sumter school District, located 50 miles east of Columbia, the State Capitol, students from 2nd grade through high school are now learning their science lessons through the use of Twig and Tigtag, which blend amazing and visually stunning footage from the very best video archives around the world including, BBC Motion Gallery, Getty Images, the Science Photo Library, NASA and many others.
Each short video includes narration and a full transcript offering Sumter teachers a convenient and effective means to help students understand and embrace difficult science concepts. The short videos, about 2-3 minutes in duration each, are written by experienced television producers who work closely with school teachers across the world. The videos anchor a suite of online exercises, quizzes, and other media that support science teaching.
“We’ve long depended on Carolina Biological for supplies to support our hands-on science and inquiry teaching. But, these new Twig resources help expand our teachers’ reach and engage students in a way that is meaningful and, more important, relevant to our students who seek a more ‘tech savvy’ learning experience. Our Sumter kids deserve the best, and after an extensive evaluation of Twig and Tigtag we decided that these two new tools would become a critical part of our District’s efforts to embrace the new South Carolina Academic Standards and Performance Indicators for Science,” said District Science Coordinator Lori Smith. “We are pleased that the Board of Education has approved them for adoption throughout the State.”
“Many of our children,” continued Ms. Smith, “have parents who work in aerospace, aviation, and with our new Continental Tire plant that utilizes heavy equipment, machinery and advanced manufacturing, all of which require the development of higher skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Twig and Tigtag are the perfect tools for helping our teachers make real world connections between what students study in class, and the careers and post-secondary options that await them upon graduation from Sumter schools. I couldn’t be more thrilled.”
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