Discovery Cube Orange County

We inspire and educate young minds through engaging science-based programs and exhibits to create a meaningful impact on the communities we serve.

For over 25 years, Discovery Cube Orange County has been a non-profit organization impacting the lives of children through hands-on science education. At our foundation lies our four core initiatives used to prepare the next generation of teachers, students and life-long learners. From early childhood education to STEM proficiency, healthy living to environmental stewardship, these initiatives go to the heart of our mission as an entity of inspiration, education, and transformation. Even with the new addition of our Los Angeles facility and the expansion of our Orange County location, we are much more than experience within our walls. From our educational outreach programs to our empowering real world application, we are an agent of change in this ever-evolving world, an organization on a mission of good through the wonders of science.

DCOC is more than just an interactive science center with state-of-the-art, hands-on exhibits. Our reach goes far beyond DCOC’s walls as we empower the next generation to become scientifically literate. We fill the “gap” with our vital science education outreach to students and teachers.

DCOC’s annual STEM Education Fund makes it possible to provide critical science education programs and events to our community. Ticket sales and membership dues to the Center make up only a portion of what we need to fund all of our programs. Last year, donor support allowed us to fund outreach programs impacting 326,577 students, over 60,000 of those from Title I schools, field trips for more than 51,526 students, with over 5,158 of those from Title I schools, and teacher professional development programs for 536 Orange County-based teachers. DCOC is currently ranked #2 in educational outreach programs amongst all science centers nationally. Moreover, our impact measurements go beyond the number of students and teachers we see.

To ensure we are meeting the needs of our teachers, DCOC partnered with the University of Notre Dame to quantify the educational impact of our programming. Notre Dame’s research showed that 75% of teachers who went through our Teacher Professional Development felt the programs were taught coherently, well planned, and educationally appropriate to the students’ grade levels. Through pre-and post-testing, Notre Dame captured the students’ change in knowledge from the education provided by our Teacher Professional Development. The results showed significant improvements as a result of our educational programs. Fourth-grade students finished 20%-50% higher than the national sample, and fifth-graders finished 20%-35% higher than the national sample, as set by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Letters from teachers and students affirm we are making a difference. As one young female student wrote to us: “I didn’t use to like science. But now I do because of You!”

Through STEM Education Fund-based programs, admissions to our Center and additional off-site and on-site programs, DCOC impacted more than 607,912 lives with science education.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we knew that 65% of jobs available in 2030 to our Generation Z and Alpha graduates have not yet been invented, and the majority of these jobs are going to be in STEM (World Economic Forum). As we prepare students for the future in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, our country’s education system has been impacted and is rapidly evolving. From our vantage point at Discovery Cube, we see two major tenets emerging, the role of the educator is being redefined and technology is being unlocked to deliver education. To fulfill the need for more scientists and engineers, there must be increased educational support for the nation’s underrepresented minority (URM) science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students. There is a need to produce more talented scientists and engineers to support the future economy of the USA. Additional educational support for the nation’s URM STEM students helps fulfill this need; but more importantly, inclusion of more URM students with diverse backgrounds and different perspectives will impact the level of creativity, innovation, and quality of STEM products and services (Denson, Stallworth, Hailey, & Householder, 2015; National Research Council, 2003). Organizations like Discovery Cube LA can encourage the development of students’ STEM identities and can contribute to encouraging them to pursue higher education potentially leading to a STEM career. Discovery Cube sits at the forefront of the pipeline that connects young children, especially those students of color and others from communities typically underrepresented in STEM fields without access to resources or parents (people of influence) that can guide them in choosing a career and the pathway they will need to take to achieve it.