There are currently few ways for students to explicitly showcase the skills they learn outside of school to advance them in their career and education. At the Pacific Science Center, youth in the Discovery Corps program become leaders in science and presentation, developing crucial personal and professional skills that that they would not have otherwise developed in school.

Our solution to giving the students the recognition they deserve is to design a digital badge system for the Discovery Corps Program. Digital badges provide the youth with a way to present these skills in an online platform that they can share with potential employers and educators. This creates a precedent for which skills learned outside of school can be quantified in an applicable manner. Students can gain recognition for skills that previously were unacknowledged, giving them an advantage in reaching future goals.