Children's museum of atlanta will collaborate with georgia state university to provide preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, and special needs students from rural and urban title i public school systems…

The Children's Museum of Atlanta will collaborate with Georgia State University to provide $420,615 in virtual learning opportunities and professional development under an Institute of Museum and Library Services Museums for America Project Grant awarded September 1, 2022.

Specifically, the museum and university will develop curriculum-directed virtual learning for pre-K through 5th grade Title I students, with a focus on improving language and literacy skills through play-based methods. They will train teachers and staff in facilitating digital literacy lessons and assessing academic progress. University researchers will also help create and implement pre- and post-assessment tools to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual programming on student outcomes. Results will then be used to develop a shared assessment tool for other state and national institutions. The funding aims to address the digital divide and strengthen the ability of museums to serve the public.

Children's museum of atlanta will collaborate with georgia state university to provide preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, and special needs students from rural and urban title i public school systems with curriculum-directed virtual learning opportunities. Teachers and museum education staff will participate in training on approaches to facilitate and provide digital literacy lessons to students and how to assess students' academic progress. University research professors will work with museum staff to develop and implement a research based pre- and post-assessment program to determine the effectiveness of virtual programming on students' learning outcomes. They will apply results from these assessments to create an assessment tool to share with other institutions in the state and nationwide. The project will address the digital divide by creating an innovative, play-based curriculum for virtual learning that will improve language and literacy skills for all types of students.