Digital Integration
Smithsonian Science for the Classroom is designed to include digital resources that meaningfully enhance learning. Digital resources embedded within lessons include video and audio clips; informational text, photos, and maps; content-specific simulations; access to authentic data sets; and more.
An animated character, Ada, introduces students to the problem of a hot playground.
Kindergarten students play Mini Golf Motion to help them understand what happens when balls collide.
Grade 1 students use the Light Up the Cave simulation to experience what it’s like to be in an environment with no light sources. They use their experience to help them figure out why some objects hidden in the classroom are easier to see than others.
Grade 5 students use Aquation , a strategy game focused on water equity, to learn about ways that freshwater can be accessed within and shared between different regions of the world. Students apply the information about ways to access and move water to solve a water shortage problem in an agricultural region.
Teachers can access digital resources using module-specific Smithsonian Science Education Center web pages. They can also access resources and provide access to students from within the Carolina Science Online website (carolinascienceonline.com), available with purchase of a module. Through Carolina Science Online, teachers and students have access to English and Spanish notebook sheets and interactive readers. Teacher Resource Videos are also available on Carolina Science Online to provide lesson preparation support.
Students access electricity generation data for their state to solve a planned power outage problem.
Smithsonian Science for the Classroom is designed to engage, inspire, and connect your students firsthand to the world around them. The curriculum has been developed in consultation with teachers and field tested in a range of schools with diverse populations. It draws on the latest findings and best practices from educational research.