Inspiring STEAM careers with Electronic Arts

How do you inspire young people to work in the video games industry? While the attractions of this fun and creative sector might seem obvious, not everyone feels it offers a career path that’s right for them. EA set out to correct this by bridging the gap between schools and the gaming industry. They developed an educational programme designed to inspire a lifelong interest in computer science and show children from different backgrounds the various career paths available in this field.

Secondary students take part in online STEAM skills course as part of EA’s Play to Learn programme

As part of EA’s Play to Learn programme, over 72 thousand 11-to-14-year-olds in UK and North American schools have participated in the digital Endeavour course, which builds core STEAM skills while helping students explore STEAM-based careers. The course covers today’s key scientific issues including recommendation algorithms, big data, and the future of design through fun, interactive lessons and activities. EVERFI also created an additional immersive simulation for EA that lets children experience how STEAM skills would be applied in a real-life Game Design team.

The programme has built-in measurement capabilities that enable EA to fully understand the impact it’s making, including data on student demographic, learning hours, knowledge gain, and behaviour change. The programme has seen a 95% increase in students’ knowledge of STEAM topics!