Communication Service for the Deaf Launches "Embrace the Earth" STEM Toolkit for Deaf Students and Educators - Features Live Webinar With Four Deaf Women Leaders in STEM
The Five-Week Teaching Module and Companion Live Earth Day Event are Available Free Online Through CSD Learns. Embrace the Earth is designed to enhance deaf and hard of hearing middle school students' appreciation and understanding of STEM disciplines.
ROCHESTER, N.Y., April 20, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD), the world's largest deaf-led social impact organization, and its eLearning program CSD Learns today announced the introduction of a free STEM Learning Toolkit series. This five-toolkit series, titled Embrace the Earth, is designed to enhance deaf and hard of hearing middle school students' appreciation and understanding of STEM disciplines. The program also features a supporting two-hour STEM event via livestream on April 21, featuring four deaf women STEM professionals.
In a recent survey conducted by CSD Learns, 77 percent of participating middle school teachers admit that they discuss deaf and hard of hearing role models in STEM fields with their students rarely, if at all.
"These lessons aim to provide an authentic and interactive learning experience for deaf middle schoolers," said Brian Milburn, Program Manager of CSD Learns. "Given that more than 90 percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents, many grow up without ever meeting a deaf professional and without ever realizing their full potential. This is our opportunity to change that."
Developed by CSD Learns and co-sponsored by the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), the first toolkit in the Embrace the Earth series features a week of instruction. Led by prominent deaf educator Mick Posner, a public high school and community college teacher who was featured on the A&E documentary Deaf Out Loud, the toolkit touches on topics such as History of Earth Day, Your Carbon Footprint, and How to Recycle, Reduce and Reuse.
This new toolkit is the latest offering among an extensive STEM toolkit library from CSD Learns consisting of ready-made presentations with engaging instructional content featuring deaf and hard of hearing role models in STEM. Students, educators, and parents are encouraged to use the toolkit to supplement the livestream event on April 21 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. EST, during which Posner will be joined by a four-women panel of skilled STEM professionals specializing in such fields as marine biology, lab sciences, mathematics and biochemistry. To register for the live webinar please visit Embrace the Earth.
For further information please visit Embrace the Earth Toolkit
In addition to the new STEM toolkit, CSD continues to offer comprehensive ASL resources for the deaf community during COVID-19 pandemic. This includes:
- Additional home education resources provided by CSD Learns
- ASL Now COVID-19 Hotline for the deaf community providing important information on COVID-19 in American Sign Language and English - (833) 682-7630
- Live ASL interpretation and closed captioning of White House Coronavirus Task Force briefings in partnership with other leading deaf organizations DPAN.TV, Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf and CONVO.
- Comprehensive COVID-19 website resource
About CSD
Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD) is the largest deaf-led social impact organization in the world. For more than four decades, CSD has been a leader in creating and providing accessible and innovative solutions for the deaf community. Today, CSD continues its work to create opportunities for personal and economic growth within the deaf community, specifically addressing leadership and employment. CSD's Social Venture Fund is one of the first angel funds and incubators in the world supporting deaf entrepreneurs and deaf owned and operated businesses. For more information please visit: CSD.
About CSD Learns
CSD Learns, powered by CSD, aims to create equity and give the deaf community resources for self-improvement and advocacy. The program's goal is to provide equity for deaf people in the workplace and give people the tools for self-improvement and autonomous social mobility. By providing self-paced online courses with visual and auditory paths for interaction, CSD Learns ensures that people from all intersections can engage with our content and build their own pathways to success. CSD Learns' courses can be accessed by any individual, school, or organization at no cost. For more information please visit CSD Learns.
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SOURCE Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD)
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