Website: Global Math Project

The GLOBAL MATH PROJECT is a community of mathematics teachers sharing their joy of math.

In addition to celebrating Global Math Week each year, the website contains six learning experiences including teaching guides and handouts. Links are also provided to dozens of “exploring dots” learning resources.

Librarians will find this website to be a great place to connect math teachers with learning resources. It’s also an opportunity to participate in the Global Math Week activities.

To visit the website, go to https://www.globalmathproject.org.

Website Review: Carnegie Cyber Academy

THE CARNEGIE CYBER ACADEMY is a professional-quality website focusing on digital citizenship.

The Training Missions section explores cybersecurity topics such as email threats and website safety. Students earn badges as they complete tasks. Four missions are currently available. Each mission has an online component as well as a hint sheet that can be downloaded.

The Academy Library contains useful information on searching for resources, evaluating source credibility, and using web resources. The Cyberpedia is an encyclopedia of key vocabulary related to digital literacy.

The Fun Stuff area provides short animations and games on curriculum-related topics as well as themes such as holidays. Links to the YouTube Channel provide additional resources on topics such as cyberbullying. The Carnegie Cadets: The MySecureCyberspace Game is a downloadable game focusing on digital literacy skills. The News and Cadet Life pages aren’t being updated but have interesting archival information.

The Faculty Pages help teachers locate useful information for teaching digital citizenship. A Classroom and Support Materials section provides many more resources for teachers including over a dozen lesson starters, downloadable materials, a youth user manual, and other resources.

Librarians will find many uses for the engaging digital citizenship information, games, and learning activities. While the website can be used as a self-contained information literacy curriculum, pieces on specific topics such as online reputations, netiquette, and online safety can be woven into the existing curriculum.

To visit the website, go to http://www.carnegiecyberacademy.com/.

Website Review: TED-Ed

The TED-ED website is TED’s education initiative focusing on short video lessons for students and educators.

As a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) has covered many educational issues in the past. However, they have recently developed a growing library of lessons aimed specifically at sparking curiosity in learners around the world.

The TED-Ed project contains a number of different elements.

The Lessons area provides access to thousands of lessons. Users can search for topics of interest. Educators are also encouraged to build and contribute a lesson around a TED-Ed Original, TED Talk, or YouTube video. The lessons have a standard format including a title, introduction, embedded video, and creator area. They also contains watch, think, dig deeper, and discussion elements. The Customize This Lesson option allows users to add context, questions, discussion items, and follow-up suggestions to any lesson.

The Series area provides organized access to thematic topics such as superhero science, inventions that shaped history, or playing with language.

TED-Ed Clubs supports students in presenting their big ideas through TED-style talks. Information is provided about how to start and facilitate a club.

The Get Involved area encourages learners and educators to nominate an exceptional educator or animator to produce a video.

The TED-Ed blog provides information about what’s happening at TED-Ed including new lessons, suggestions, and teaching strategies.

Librarians will find a wealth of high quality resources at TED-Ed. Consider collaborating with a teacher to create your own TED-Ed Club!

To explore the website, go to http://ed.ted.com/.

Website Review: BAM! Body and Mind

BAM! BODY AND MIND from the Center for Disease Control provides information and activities aimed at helping young people make healthy lifestyle choices.

Designed for children 9 to 13 years old, the website contains six sections: Diseases, Food and Nutrition, Physical Activity, Your Safety, Your Life, and Your Body; all are packed with information and activities. For example, the Disease section includes the Disease Detectives and Immune Platoon activities and more. Information about Asthma is found within Disease Detectives and more details are added in Meeting the Challenge in the Physical Activity Section. Acne and its treatment are explained in the Under the Microscope section of Your Body.

In the Teachers Corner, educators can quickly view lessons and activities, handouts, and recommended related materials. Teachers can use BAM! to provide interactive, informative and fun activities in their classrooms; activities that are linked to the national standards for science and health.

Librarians can partner with teachers to plan and deliver a healthy food activity. Setup a blender with needed ingredients and have students try the recipes for drinks and smoothies found in the Food & Nutrition section. Lots of other recipes are provided in Cool Treats. Pair this activity with a cookbook display featuring healthy recipes.

Visit and learn more about BAM! at http://www.cdc.gov/bam/

Website Review: Climate.gov

CLIMATE.GOV is an outstanding U.S. government website from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) focusing on high-quality scientific data and information related to the climate.

When students are doing research on climate change, global warming or other climate-related topics, they often run into biased sites that are “pro” or “con” rather than informational sites that contain useful facts to support arguments and make decisions. The NOAA Climate website provides quality news and information students can use in STEM projects.

The HOME page links to recent topics of interest. It also provides a Global Climate Dashboard containing a quick-look at useful data in the form of graphs related to climate change, climate variability, and climate projections.

The NEWS & FEATURES section provided featured articles, along with access to departments of interest. The images and video section is useful for student projects. The event tracker may help youth focus on a particular event such as a storm or flood that may be associated with a larger climate issue.

The MAPS & DATA section explores global, U.S., and regional data.

The TEACHING CLIMATE section is designed for educators. It provides access to reviewed resources in major areas of climate research. Resources are also organized into formats including visuals, video, demos & experiments, and interactive tools.

Finally, the SUPPORTING DECISIONS section is designed to help communities manage climate-related risks. The topics in this section would be exciting for students to explore when considering the impact of climate change on society and the environments.

To explore the website, go to http://www.climate.gov/

Website Review: Artsedge

ARTSEDGE is an educational program providing lessons, activities, how-to’s, and resources related to the arts including dance, theatre, music, and visual arts.

Sponsored by The Kennedy Center and the U.S. Department of Education, the website contains sections for educators, families, and students.

The Collections area allows users to search by art genre, time period, place, and big idea such as STEM or global cultures. Or, enter a topic of interest.

The Multimedia Finder provides access to images, audio stories, music, video clips, and interactives. In addition to a text search, users can search by art genre or media type.

The Educators section users to search for lessons and how-to guides. It’s also possible to search based on the National Core Arts Standards. By registering at the website, teachers can store and organize their favorite resources for easy access.

The Arts Days app provides a full year of events connecting the arts to inventions, artists, and milestones.

To learn more, go to http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/

To download the free app, go to https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/arts-days/id622294390.

Website Review: Gooru

GOORU is a web-based resource that contains over 70,000 collections of free, K-12 web resources. 

The mission of GOORU is to provide personalized learning for teachers and students. The website allows users to FIND standards-based learning materials, REMIX the resources to create custom collections, SHARE collections, and MONITOR student use of online materials.

Built-in, online tools make this a unique environment for librarians to collaborate with classroom teachers. Educators can create pathfinders and even design questions for students to address.

A dedicated webpage can be created for classes that can be used to build and manage assignments. Images, handouts, and slides can be added to enhance the learning environment.

Begin with a search for a topic such as “erosion” or “American Civil War”. It’s possible to narrow a search by resource format, subject, grade level, standard, publisher and mode. The search returns interactives, lessons, and other web-based resources. Each resource also indicates whether it’s “mobile friendly.” Users can then examine any Gooru collections that contain the resource. In many cases these collections contain a gold mine of ideas and additional resources.

The Gooru iPad app is easy to download and use for school with iPads.

To learn more, go to http://www.goorulearning.org/

Website & App Review: PBS

PBS has recently updated their web and app presence. Let’s explore some of the options.

PBS LearningMedia at http://pbslearningmedia.org/ provides standards-based lesson ideas organized by grade and subject. A suite of productivity tools can be used to create customized lessons, quizzes, and interactive web pages featuring PBS web content. A search for INTERACTIVE yields more than 1500 interactive tutorials and games for youth across the curriculum. Search for topics related to Standards for the 21st Century Learner. For instance, a search for COPYRIGHT yields videos, interactive, and lessons related to copyright law and youth.

PBS LearningMedia for Students at http://pbslearningmedia.org/student/ is a place where youth can access the materials developed by teachers. They can also used the online tools for creating their own online projects known as “storyboards”.

PBSKids at http://pbskids.org/ continues to provide access to videos, games, and other activities for youth.

PBSVideo at http://video.pbs.org/ provides short excerpts as well as full programs from a wide range of PBS programs.

PBS for iPad can be downloaded from iTunes. This app provides easy access to thousands of full-length videos programs.

For access to all of these websites, go to PBS at http://www.pbs.org/.

Website Review: iCivics

The ICIVICS website provides interactive learning resources including lesson plans, games, and digital interactives. With local, state, and national elections being held around the country, it’s a perfect time to promote civic learning.

Founded by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the website actively engages students in activities that promote democratic action.

The Play section provides a wide range of online games for youth. After completing a free registration process, learners can collect badges, follow the leaderboard, and collect impact points. Games include “Do I Have a Right?”, “Branches of Power,” “Supreme Decision,” “Argument Wars”, “Bill of Rights”, “Immigration Nation”, and more! Play time ranges from 5 to 30 or more minutes per game, perfect for a class period.

The Teach section provides standards-based curriculum units, lesson plans, DBQuests, and WebQuests along with other tools and resources for planning on a wide range of topics including Foundations of Government, Branches of Government, The Constitution, Civil Rights, and others.

Whether focusing attention on the elections or teaching to a particular social studies standard, ICIVICS is a great choice for librarians working with teacher to promote an awareness of the democratic process.

To visit the website, go to https://www.icivics.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/.

Website Review: Stem and the Common Core

STEM AND THE COMMON CORE is a project of Science NetLinks. This website provides lessons that connect nonfiction science trade books with hands-on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) activities. Many of the books featured are winners of the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books and other literary awards.

Dozens of lessons connect books like AN EGG IS QUIET by Dianna Aston, SISTERS & BROTHERS by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page, WHERE IN THE WILD? by David Schwartz and Yael Schy, LOOK UP! BIRD WATCHING IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD by Annette LeBlanc Cate, and THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot with STEM activities.

To learn more about these K-12 activities connecting STEM with English language arts, go to STEM AND THE COMMON CORE at http://sciencenetlinks.com/collections/stem-and-common-core/