Last year, we were thrilled to announce one of the Nielsen Foundation’s signature programs: Discover Data, in collaboration with Discovery Education and the Afterschool Alliance. Now, we’re excited to share that brand-new resources are available on the Discover Data site at no cost to educators. These include new Curriculum Connectors for grades 6-12 that connect students to real-world data and video career profiles showcasing diverse examples of data-driven careers.

As a private foundation funded by Nielsen, the Nielsen Foundation aims to bridge divides and enhance the use of data by the social sector to reduce discrimination, ease global hunger, promote effective education, and build strong leadership. Discover Data’s programs and assets have been built to bridge the divide between data and students, in order to get them excited about data through experiences and subjects that connect with their everyday lives.

As a result, the resources are flexible for educators to connect the power of data with a variety of subjects, whether they teach math, science, English Language Arts (ELA) or run an afterschool enrichment program. Four suites of resources now available to educators:

• Curriculum Connectors provide several beginner and intermediate-level activities for grades 6-12 tied to three themes: holidays, championship football and sustainability. These connectors give educators the opportunity to integrate real-world data sets into existing curriculum or programming, as well as ideas on how to encourage students to collect their own data.
• Classroom Activities are more structured 45-minute lessons for grades 6-8 addressing premium product development, celebrity product endorsements and millennial media habits.
• Video Career Profiles highlight three diverse examples of data-driven careers and how these real-world professionals use data both in and out of work.
• Career Resource Guides provide background on data science, innovation analyst and sales engineer careers, including the types of education and experience needed and future demand for these jobs.

Later this year, a student eLearning interactive module and an educator webinar will launch on the site.

The Discover Data program also aims to connect students with career role models through virtual and in-person volunteering. Educators can request a visit from a real-world volunteer to help to facilitate an activity either in-person or virtually. To support these efforts, a volunteer guide and introduction letter are available on the Discover Data site for volunteers. New this year, U.S. volunteers from Nielsen now also have the opportunity to use a “Find a Classroom” tool to find and reach out to a local school or program in their area.

To learn more and access the resources, visit the Discover Data website.