By India McCarty
NASA-engineer-turned-YouTuber Mark Rober is investing $60 million into a new STEM curriculum for children.
“The reason we’re doing this is because it breaks my heart when I see teachers who get paid salaries that as a society we should be ashamed of spending their own money on resources that totally suck,” Rober said onstage during a recent TEDTalk.
The curriculum, called Class CrunchLabs, is tailored for children grades 3-8 and “has everything [children] need” to excel in STEM. It will also be completely free for teachers to use.
“The idea is you combine incredible teachers with incredible resources to get explosive output,” Rober said. “To all those teachers out there in the trenches, I want you to know: Reinforcements are on the way.”
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Sarah Lavoie, a science teacher at Bourne Middle School, spoke to CrunchLabs about the new program, saying, “I am sitting at my desk during my prep, and instead of making photocopies or grading papers, I am glued to my screen watching the [teacher] prep videos. In that short amount of time I have already seen four demos that will greatly improve my Magnets units. This is the kind of resource that will revive my already over the top enthusiasm for what I teach.”
This isn’t the only exciting way Rober is reaching young people. Last year, Netflix announced they had tapped the YouTuber to bring his talents to the streamer for a new show, MARK ROBER’S CRUNCHLABS
“I love turning learning into a game, basically hiding the vegetables in the dessert, and now it’s a full-on competition game show!” Rober said of the show. “When you’re having fun, you’re learning without even realizing it. And teaming up with Netflix and Jimmy Kimmel [an executive producer on the show] to make this happen? This is gonna be epic!”
Kimmel added, “My kids love Mark Rober, and so do their parents. Mark’s videos are so clever and inventive, it’s easy to forget that they’re educational, too. We can’t wait to introduce one of the best and brightest creators to Netflix.”
Whether it’s on TV or in the classroom, Rober is committed to getting young people interested in STEM.
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