Direct to Discovery

Welcome to Direct to Discovery! Here we provide information and resources to learn more about how we are using problem-based learning to engage students with research scientists and bring relevance into instruction! Whether you are already participating in this unique, technology driven middle and high school initiative or are just curious as to what’s going on -- we are glad you stopped by. 

Specifically, Direct to Discovery is a unique collaboration between research scientists at The Georgia Institute of Technology and teachers in Barrow County in Georgia who use digital media and interactive TV to enhance Middle and High School student engagement in the learning of science and math. This is a research project in Year II of III funded by a federal Race to the Top (RT3) grant in order for us to investigate the hypothesis that an increase in student engagement will result in increased student interest and performance. Teachers participate in rigorous professional development that takes them into research laboratories, has them brainstorming with research scientists and explore ideas they are also interested in as a way to build their capacity in the STEM areas of science, technology, engineering and math. They are rewarded for their work as every student tin their class receives an iPad of their own to work with to learn!