7. Explore Concepts: Interact Explorations Students manipulate variables and make predictions about outcomes Virtual Labs Students design and conduct their own scientific investigations Integrated Science Simulations Students explore concepts by making choices and controlling variables Interactive Video Users click on “hot spots” to pause the video to learn more information
8. Explore Concepts: Watch Videos Video content is exclusive to Discovery Education Science. Videos are divided into segments, so you can show only the parts of the video that best relate to your teaching.
9. Explore Concepts: Read Articles Support key concepts while enhancing reading proficiency with engaging, informative selections from WRC Media’s award-winning libraries Reading Passages Enhance your lessons with these highly visual and dynamic reading passages from Discovery Education’s award-winning book series. Selections include science timelines and interviews with leading scientists.
15. Assignment Builder Search existing assignments Build your own online assignments incorporating Science resources, assessments and links to other websites
16. Classroom Manager Manage Your Classroom with the Classroom Manager, you can build and manage your classrooms and assignments. Students visit the Student Center to access these materials
17. Process Skills Library Virtual Labs Students design and conduct their own scientific investigations Science Sleuths Students examine science mysteries and use articles, interviews and video to solve the problem MythBusters Episodes have been selected and edited for Middle School audiences and illustrate the adventure and careful use of the scientific process to prove a science myth, or bust it! A variety of media in the Process Skills Library addresses the critical thinking skills students must acquire in order to successfully engage in the scientific process.
18. Featured Series Library Find Video Clips from some of your favorite Discovery series. Immerse students with featured video including Planet Earth, Jeff Corwin Experience and Human Body: Pushing the Limits.
19. My Content Use My Content to collect, organize, retrieve, and assign your favorite Science media resources in one convenient place Add media resources and assessments to folders you create Use the pull down menu to view specific media types you’ve added to My Content
20. My Content Add a resource to My Content: 4. Click “Add” 1. Click “View Details” 2. Click “+ Add to My Content” 3. Select an existing folder in My Content or create a new folder to add the resource
21. My Classes This feature enables you to create classrooms and student accounts and assign Science content to students. Click a class to view a list of students Add a Student to a class Click to add a new class
Editor's Notes
You can locate media using the keyword search , the Advanced search , the curriculum standards search or by browsing DESC’s science topics Upon login, you will find three areas of science: Physical Science, Life Science and Earth and Space Science. These areas of science are common to middle school science curricula across the country.
Browsing for Content Discovery Education Science is organized by concept and topic area, to help you quickly locate multimedia resources that complement your lessons. Digital media content, ranging from animated simulations and interactive video to reading passages and images, is collected in one place to save you time as you prepare your lessons. Units, Topics & Concepts Within each content tab, you will find a list of units and within each unit, topics related to the unit. Clicking on a topic will open a page with concepts. Each concept contains dozens of digital media resources. You can move forward and backward in your results by clicking any of the links in the breadcrumb trail or choose a new path by selecting a different topic tab.
Each topic in Discovery Education Science contains an inquiry problem that teachers can use to engage students in learning about that topic. These brief problems are designed so that, once students have mastered the concepts in the topic, they will have the information they need to return to the problem and propose a solution. Inquiry problems are presented at the topic level on each topic resources page and can be viewed on screen and in PDF format.
Explore Concepts Discovery Education Science concepts are organized by resource type: Interact, Watch, and Read so you can choose the type that best relates to your teaching objectives or student learning style. Click each tab to view a list of resources.
Explore Concepts Discovery Education Science concepts are organized by resource type: Interact, Watch, and Read so you can choose the type that best relates to your teaching objectives or student learning style. Click each tab to view a list of resources.
Virtual Labs Through hands-on examination, students develop their ability to design and conduct their own scientific investigation using Science’s Virtual Labs. Students begin each Virtual Lab by viewing the Introduction and reading the Mission, where they consider a real-world problem. Details are provided in a downloadable PDF Briefing Document. Next, they move on to the Explore phase in which they learn how to manipulate the control tools in the lab or field study to gather their data. Once they have had a chance to explore, test and understand the components of the lab, students enter the Plan phase where they develop their own testable questions related to the problem. They must also develop a plan for how they will use the lab or field study to conduct their investigation. Upon approval of the plan by the teacher, students begin the Experiment phase and conduct their investigation. They collect data and draw conclusions along the way. Finally, students share their data and conclusions through class presentations, lab reports, and journal entries. Explorations Use Science’s Explorations to activate prior knowledge or as a presentation tool to examine a specific concept. Students can make predictions about outcomes and then use the Exploration to test those predictions by manipulating a series of inputs. For example, in the Exploration “Slippery Slope,” students predict how far a block will slide down a frictionless ramp and onto a flat table by choosing the block mass, the block bottom surface and the type of table top surface. Interactive Video Science transforms linear video into an interactive, self-directed experience for students and an alternative presentation tool for teachers. In this highly engaging format, users click on “hotspots” during a selected video segment to pause the video to learn additional information and reinforce learning points. Supplemental text and graphics match clickable objects in the video window. Students can also build a set of terms in the Hot Spot List Manager to track the concepts they have explored. Integrated Science Simulations (ISS) Students use Science’s Integrated Science Simulations to explore a situation from a variety of perspectives. They can explore concepts by making choices and using dynamic interactivity to control a series of relational variables. For example, in the ISS “Flight,” students engage in a flight simulation, where they are challenged to transport three different cargo bundles while selecting the smallest wing area possible for the plane. Background information, questions and additional activities are provided for each ISS. Integrated Science Simulations come from Discovery Education’s award-winning CD-ROM collection.
Science videos are divided into “chapters” or “segments” that illustrate specific concepts within each Science topic. Play and download videos, save them to folders in My Content or email video information to a colleague. Easy to use content tabs provide quick access to the full video, video segments, citation information and related materials. All videos have been cross-referenced to teaching standards for all states.
Articles & Reading Passages Enrich your science curricula with articles from a variety of trusted sources. Articles are leveled to make the content accessible to students with different reading abilities. Colorfully visual reading passages from Discovery Education’s award-winning book series are also available. Click the “View Details” link below each article or reading passage description to add it to a folder in My Content, review state Curriculum Standards, and view the reading level and publisher.
The Teacher Center provides you with powerful tools that allow you to build and manage assessments; create dynamic, interactive multimedia projects for your students and access teaching resources that support your science curriculum and foster process skills. You can save and organize your projects in folders you create within My Content for easy editing and retrieval.
The Assessment Manager pairs formative assessment tools with Science’s dynamic content, giving you the ability to monitor your students’ understanding of concepts and address specific areas of need by assigning remediation content to individuals or an entire class. Choose from hundreds of pre-made assessment questions tied to state standards, or create your own custom assessments.
The Assignment Builder is a versatile resource that helps you build online activities and web-based projects that are stored on the Discovery Education servers. You can use this tool to create student assignments that integrate a variety of resources such as virtual labs, explorations, reading passages, video segments and assessments. Students access assignments through Science’s Student Center.
The Assignment Builder is a versatile resource that helps you build online activities and web-based projects that are stored on the Discovery Education servers. You can use this tool to create student assignments that integrate a variety of resources such as virtual labs, explorations, reading passages, video segments and assessments. Students access assignments through Science’s Student Center.
Discovery Education Science supports students’ understanding of science inquiry by providing opportunities to observe and experience science investigation. A variety of media in the Process Skills Library addresses the critical thinking skills students must acquire in order to successfully engage in scientific methodology. Each of these experiences is connected to specific Science concepts and can also be accessed when browsing for content. Virtual Labs engage students in developing a well-designed science investigation. These activities support hands-on examination and help to develop students’ ability to design and conduct their own investigation. Students begin each virtual lab by viewing the Introduction and reading the Mission, where they consider a real-world problem. Details are provided in a downloadable PDF Briefing Document. Next, they move on to the Explore phase in which they learn how to manipulate the control tools in the lab or field study to gather their data. Once they have had a chance to explore, test and understand the components of the lab, students enter the Plan phase where they develop their own testable questions related to the problem. They must also develop a plan for how they will use the lab or field study to conduct their investigation. Upon approval of the plan by the teacher, students begin the Experiment phase and conduct their investigation. They collect data and draw conclusions along the way. Finally, students share their data and conclusions through class presentations, lab reports, and journal entries. Science Sleuths, an updated web version of Video Discovery’s popular CD-ROM and video-disc series, engages students in real-world challenges in which they become science detectives. Students are presented with a science mystery or possible crime and use articles, interviews, investigations, and video presentations to gather the information they need to solve the problem. Students take notes and collect data as they progress, and present their findings to the Science Sleuth hostess when they are done. MythBusters episodes from the Discovery Channel’s popular television series have been carefully selected and edited for middle school audiences and illustrate the adventure and the careful use of the science process to prove a science myth, or bust it! Students are provided with observation sheets and teachers receive a guide that enables them to look for good scientific inquiry skills being used by MythBusters hosts Jamie and Adam.
Discovery Education Science supports students’ understanding of science inquiry by providing opportunities to observe and experience science investigation. A variety of media in the Process Skills Library addresses the critical thinking skills students must acquire in order to successfully engage in scientific methodology. Each of these experiences is connected to specific Science concepts and can also be accessed when browsing for content. Virtual Labs engage students in developing a well-designed science investigation. These activities support hands-on examination and help to develop students’ ability to design and conduct their own investigation. Students begin each virtual lab by viewing the Introduction and reading the Mission, where they consider a real-world problem. Details are provided in a downloadable PDF Briefing Document. Next, they move on to the Explore phase in which they learn how to manipulate the control tools in the lab or field study to gather their data. Once they have had a chance to explore, test and understand the components of the lab, students enter the Plan phase where they develop their own testable questions related to the problem. They must also develop a plan for how they will use the lab or field study to conduct their investigation. Upon approval of the plan by the teacher, students begin the Experiment phase and conduct their investigation. They collect data and draw conclusions along the way. Finally, students share their data and conclusions through class presentations, lab reports, and journal entries. Science Sleuths, an updated web version of Video Discovery’s popular CD-ROM and video-disc series, engages students in real-world challenges in which they become science detectives. Students are presented with a science mystery or possible crime and use articles, interviews, investigations, and video presentations to gather the information they need to solve the problem. Students take notes and collect data as they progress, and present their findings to the Science Sleuth hostess when they are done. MythBusters episodes from the Discovery Channel’s popular television series have been carefully selected and edited for middle school audiences and illustrate the adventure and the careful use of the science process to prove a science myth, or bust it! Students are provided with observation sheets and teachers receive a guide that enables them to look for good scientific inquiry skills being used by MythBusters hosts Jamie and Adam.
Collect, organize, retrieve and assign your favorite Science media resources in one convenient place. Located in the navigation bar at the top of the screen, “My Content” is accessible from anywhere on the site. You can add Science content to folders you create in My Content. Stay organized by creating sub-folders within main folders to create hierarchies within content, grade levels or courses. Adding resources to My Content does not initiate a playing or downloading procedure. The purpose of My Content is to bookmark the resource to avoid searching for it again. All files and projects added to My Content are stored on Discovery Education servers.
See the Science User Guide for detailed information on adding Classes and creating Student Accounts.
