MEDIA CONTACT: Matt Cardoza, GaDOE Communications Office, (404) 651-7358, mcardoza@gadoe.org
Dorie Turner Nolt, GaDOE Communications Office, (404) 656-5594, dnolt@gadoe.org
Dec. 3, 2012 - The Georgia Department of Education, in partnership with GPB Media and the Governor’s Office, is proud to announce the launch of Fast Forward, a GPB Original Production and Multimedia Project that promotes student achievement in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs by highlighting the multitude of career opportunities in those fields.
The Fast Forward project consists of 16 video segments that present STEM concepts in a fun, entertaining and informative way by demonstrating how employees in businesses and organizations across Georgia are applying the topic matter in their jobs.
“These videos are a great way to highlight the wide variety of STEM career options available to students in Georgia and to help students see the relevance of what they’re learning in school,” said State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge. “We are excited about this partnership with GPB and hope these videos will help students across the state discover what their passions are.”
In each of the 16 Fast Forward videos, there is a “Teachable Moment” that explains specific STEM concepts and is available as a stand-alone video that meets Georgia Performance Standards curriculum requirements so they can be used by teachers in the classroom.
“As Georgia’s digital media content provider for the classroom, we’re very excited about the launch of Fast Forward,” said GPB President and Executive Director Teya Ryan. “Who knew you could learn about physics at a zip line course at North Georgia Canopy Tours or Newton’s Second Law of Motion at Atlanta Motorsports Park? We are trying to stress the point to students that the STEM content offered in school has real-world applications by presenting career scenarios that make it more relevant. We are proud to add Fast Forward to the list of GPB Original content developed for the classroom, such as our chemistry and physics programs and the top-notch science content we offer through PBS programs like Nature and NOVA.”
All Fast Forward segment videos and “Teachable Moments” videos are available on the GPB website at www.gpb.org/fast-forward, as well as at GPB’s Discovery education video portal and on YouTube at youtube.com/gpbfastforward.
“The STEM fields play a critical role in our state’s competitiveness and future economic prosperity,” said Gov. Nathan Deal. “Highlighting the multitude of careers available in these areas and providing strong content lessons, these videos are the realization of the promise of public and private sector collaboration. I hope they will be a resource for our educators and an inspiration for our students.”
Fast Forward was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, with additional financial support from the Wells Fargo Foundation.
