Next step in Imperial’s longstanding partnership with Twig Education

Longstanding Imperial (@imperialcollege) partner Twig Education (@TwigEducation) has been acquired by Weld North Education, the USA’s largest provider of digital curriculum solutions.

Imperial has been working with Twig Education since 2014 when the two organisations began collaborating to create topical, high-quality digital science education products for primary level teachers and students around the world.

The recent acquisition will enable Twig to further expand its footprint across the USA. The expansion will also help inspire more students around the world to explore STEM based careers and aspire to university study for the first time.

Professor Maggie Dallman, Vice President (International) and Associate Provost (Academic Partnerships) who initially drove the partnership withTwig Education said:

“Our longstanding partnership with Twig is based on a shared belief that access to science education should be democratised in the UK and around the world. I’d like to acknowledge the critical role of Imperial scientists who have been involved from the outset and who ensure that we always deliver accurate content in all materials. I’m always delighted to hear about the significant impact and reach of our joint products, demonstrating that we are producing resources that support our teachers and help students to learn.”

Jointly developed products

The partnership’s first jointly developed product Reach Out CPD, is a continuing professional development resource available free of charge to all UK-based primary school teachers. It is used by over 62,000 teachers in more than 22,000 schools. This product is now available globally and continues to be used by teachers seeking to improve their science teaching. Following the success of Reach Out CPD, we have collaborated on three other products:

• Twig Science Reporter – a free term-time weekly video news service featuring a selection of topical and interestingSTEM stories ideal for starting classroom discussions.
• Twig Science Next Gen – a comprehensive and inspirational suite of digital resources to meet the USA’s Next Generation Science Standards.
• UNICEF’s Learning Passport – an extensive curated selection of film content to bring high quality educational material to life for learners and educators around the globe for free.

Cross-College expertise

A wide range of STEM specialists from across the College are involved in the development of Twig educational products by providing engaging content and verifying externally sourced materials.

Professor Alan Spivey, Assistant Provost (Learning and Teaching) has worked with Twig from the start of the partnership. He commented that:

“Collaborating with Twig to co-create STEM digital learning resources with direct input from College academics has been really exciting. Most recently, our work on the UNICEF Learning Passport has involved enabling over 50 subject experts from across College to verify the accuracy of the science content of more than 1500 educational films. This has been particularly rewarding as Imperial’s input is going to directly benefit thousands of children living in areas where accessing a high-quality education in STEM subjects has previously not been possible.”

Our ongoing partnership with Twig will also help to build awareness of Imperial’s commitment to enrich education experiences for a new generation of students around the world.