Discovery Launchpad (Technology & Entrepreneurship Education)

Discovery Launchpad is a unique program that brings immense educational and vocational value to our students. It is a differentiated learning platform that encourages innovation and entrepreneurship. Apart from introducing technology and engineering skills early on, it also fosters creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication.


If each one of you becomes a Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, think where India will be... We just need one and there are so many of you. The secret is to remain original, remain innovative. Constantly aspire to be the solution... All problems can be solved with technology.

~ Dr. Kiran Bedi addressing students at the finale of the 1st All-India Android Mobile App Design Competition organized by Global Discovery School

The curriculum spans across three subjects – Computer Science, Tech Launchpad and Entrepreneurship Lab.

Computer Science: Our subject matter experts have integrated Scratch Programming modules for grades 4 & 5 making computer education more practical and fun. Scratch allows students to build custom animations and games. Apps are hard to do without today and our students are getting to the core of making their own Apps. They are using the Android programming platform MIT App Inventor in grades 5, 6 and 7 to learn App building.

Tech Launchpad: This is an exciting set of courses specifically brought together for the 21st century student. We know that ‘intelligent’ functioning of many appliances is a result of Embedded designs using microcontrollers. Our researchers have put together Embedded Systems learning modules using the Arduino microcontroller for grades 6, 7 and 8. Other interesting inclusions in Tech Launchpad are Blogging, Movie Making and Website Design.

Entrepreneurship Lab: A specific curriculum on Entrepreneurship has been designed for grades 1 through 8. While the Computer Science and Tech Launchpad cultivate the spirit of innovation in students, Entrepreneurship Labs nurtures the skills needed to pursue an innovation, to make it marketable and a profitable venture.

The fact that the young are thinking about innovation is very encouraging and the roots really need to be at the school level. Innovation is all about problem solving- take a known problem and apply technology and tools for productivity, efficiency, new products and markets.

~ Mr. Sam Pitroda addressing students at the finale of the 1st All-India Android Mobile App Design Competition organized by Global Discovery School

These three aspects put together make for a comprehensive Discovery Launchpad Program. Further, a number of school and national level events motivate the students to learn, do and compete with peers. Some notable events include Blogosphere, Tech Launchpad App Making and Animation competition as well as Market Day.

Discovery Launchpad Milestones

• GDS is in the Limca Book of Records for organizing a one of a kind All-India Mobile App Design Competition for school children - Academic Year 2014-15
  
                   
             GDS is in the Limca Book of Records!
  
  
  
• International Scratch Project spanning 3 months between GDS, Harni Vadodara and The Carroll School, Boston, completed successfully - Academic Year 2014-15
  
  
• Blogosphere - An Inter-GDS Blogging Competition conducted each year starting 2015-16. Sample it here: https://kidblog.org/class/parmita-das/posts/1xs1zr9a83wxfgm0wcgg1ie29
  
  
• Inter-GDS App Contest conducted each year starting 2015-16.
  
            
  Winner of Inter-GDS App Contest 2015 in Civic Admin App Category by students of Grade 7, GDS Tirupur.
  
  
• Scratch Programming Week Event - invites students to create their own video games, conducted each year starting 2015-16 . Here’s a game created by Yashasvi of Grade 5, GDS Sevasi, Vadodara.
  https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/100453957/
  
  

Tech Programs to watch out for in future at GDS

• Cisco Networking Academy program that equips children to earn a Cisco Certified Networking Associate professional career certification before they finish their Grade 12
  
  
• Stanford FabLabs@School Prototyping, that enables children to give physical form to their abstract imagination as well as learn classroom concepts through hands-on experiences
  
  
• Robotics that gives exposure to this sunrise field of technology by learning to design hardware and software to work well together

Tech Programs to watch out for in future at GDS

Global Discovery Schools has partnered with some of the best education technology providers to help children learn faster with a deeper understanding and real life depth in applying their knowledge.

Genius Corner - Our online assessment partner, helps us assess our students quickly and provide remedial solutions.

Marksharks - Our Tablet Based Learning partner for Math & Science, helps children get their fundamentals right and keeps them engaged while learning key concepts.

EduComp - Our SmartClass Partner, beaming scores of video based modules directly in class and adhering 100% with our core syllabus.
Wordsworth English Language Lab - Our Spoken English partner, enhancing the english language learning experience for our students so they can present their confident selves.

Impartus - Our Lecture Capturing Solution partner, enables regular observation and quality analysis of educator’s classroom delivery and also helps keep a video repository of Discovery Moments.