Digital Spotlight: Photo Archive

The PHOTO ARCHIVE at the American Center of Oriental Research contains thousands of photos from Jordan and the broader Middle East.

Contents: This photo archive includes images that represent Jordan’s past and present along with other photos from the Middle East. The project includes major archaeological and cultural heritage images.

Classroom Connections: The easy-to-use search tools provide easy access to the images. Users can search by theme, place, keywords, country, or collection. Use this collection for both social studies and humanities activities focusing on the Middle East region.

Featured Digital Objects:
Petroglyphs (search Rock Drawings)
Jane Taylor Collection (search Collection name)
Linda K. Jacobs Collection (search Collection Name)

To visit the collection, go to https://acor.digitalrelab.com/.

Website Review: NBC Learn: Science of Innovation

NBC LEARN is a website contains educational resources for teachers and learners.

The free resources section contains videos and activities on topics related to language arts, humanities, social sciences, stem, innovation, and others.

Topics of particular interest include 20 videos related to the changing planet and a six part series on nanotechnology.

Librarians will find this to be a valuable resource to use with both teachers and students. Consider building a learning center around one of the themes such as the Science of Innovation. This section contains 17 videos exploring the process of innovations with accompanying lessons. Build in books and makerspace activities.

To explore the resources, go tohttp://www.nbclearn.com/portal/site/learn/resources.

Website Review: Zooniverse

ZOONIVERSE is a website that provides users the chance to participate in real discoveries through citizen science projects.

This collaborative volunteer project lets users contribute to real-world, cutting edge research across content areas including the sciences and humanities.

Participants can jump into dozens of current projects including transcribing historical documents, recording the life of chimpanzees, and characterizing bat calls.

Daily Zooniverse provides engaging, quick resources and activities that would make great lesson starters.

The Talk area provides a place where users can ask questions. The Blog shares the latest project news.

The companion website, ZOOTEACH contains high-quality lessons and resources that connect with the citizen science projects in the areas of sciences, mathematics, humanities, and arts. Resources are available for K-12 and higher education.

Librarians will find the many authentic projects a great catalyst for inquiry and learning. Use one of the projects to jumpstart an investigation in your library.

Visit the website at https://www.zooniverse.org/.

Visit the lessons at http://www.zooteach.org/.

Website Review: Khan Academy

KHAN ACADEMY contains over 3000 free videos and interactives on subjects including math, science, economics, arts, humanities, computing, test prep, and other topics. These short, self-instructional videos and interactive lessons help children and young adults with specific, foundational skills. The test prep section is particularly helpful for teens seeking assistance in preparing for the SAT.

This not-for-profit website is an excellent way to help K-12 youth succeed. Students can work at their own pace. There’s even a way for teachers to track student progress.

To learn more, go to KHANACADEMY at https://www.khanacademy.org/.