Eclipse Facts Sheet
Describes how a solar eclipse happens when the Moon moves between the Sun and Earth and about different types of solar eclipses, eclipse safety, and eclipse activities.
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]]>Faced with teaching a unit on bacteria, two seventh-grade teachers paused to consider how their students would best learn the information. Watching a video? Exploring interactive simulations? Reading engaging content?
They quickly realized the answer was—all of these options. Or maybe just one of them. It simply depended on each student’s particular learning style. Enter Discovery Education’s choice boards, interactive “digital menus” which allow students to choose how they learn a topic or standard. Choice boards cater to different learning styles, foster deep engagement, and allow students ownership of their learning. They’re one of the many curriculum-aligned tools our educator panelists will be discussing in our upcoming Educator Essentials Fall Webinar Series.
Real Classrooms. Real Solutions. Real Impact.
Our Educator Essentials Webinar Series will feature short, practical sessions led by educators in our Discovery Educator Network (DEN) and aim to provide a deeper understanding of how to use DE tools in a meaningful way. They’ll focus on real classrooms, real solutions, and real impact, and you’ll walk away with fresh strategies you can put into practice immediately.
The Presenters
Rita Mortenson
Instructional Coach, Verona Area High School, Wisconsin
The Experience webinars will be hosted by Rita Mortenson, Instructional Coach at Verona Area High School in Wisconsin. Rita is a 20-year veteran user of Discovery Education and incredible advocate for Experience solutions. She brings a wealth of classroom insight and professional development expertise, making her uniquely equipped to guide educators in leveraging Experience solutions for transformative learning. Rita’s co-presenter will be Jessie Erickson.
Sarah Yonts
Library Media Specialist, L.I. Wilder Elementary School, Wisconsin
The DreamBox Math webinars will be hosted by Sarah Yonts, Library Media Specialist at L.I. Wilder Elementary School in Wisconsin. Sarah is in her 23rd year with Green Bay Area Public Schools, and has also worked as a music educator, classroom teacher, and middle school ELA teacher. A longtime DEN member, Sarah started using DreamBox Math in 2020 and acts as her school’s tech lead, helping teachers and students navigate its powerful features. Sarah’s co-presenter will be Kelsy Rusch.
Join us live to ask questions or watch on-demand when it fits your schedule!
The Lineup
Power Up Your Practice with Discovery Education Experience
Tuesday, October 28, 7:00 PM ET
Explore how Discovery Education Experience can elevate your instructional practice and boost student engagement. This session will spotlight the Instructional Strategy Center, Careers Hub, and Curriculum-Aligned Resources—three powerful tools designed to save time, personalize learning, and connect classroom content to real-world relevance.
Engaging Every Learner with Discovery Education Experience
Monday, November 3, 7:00 PM ET
Student engagement is at the heart of effective teaching—and Discovery Education Experience offers flexible, standards-aligned resources to help you reach every learner. This webinar will explore how to use Experience to personalize instruction, support core curriculum, and close learning gaps in literacy and math.
Unlocking the Power of DreamBox Math Features
Tuesday, November 4, 7:00 PM ET
Explore how DreamBox Math’s most powerful features—Curriculum Guide, Assignments, and Progress Monitoring—can streamline instruction and elevate student engagement. This session will walk educators through how to plan, assign, and monitor learning with DreamBox Math, all while keeping students at the center of the experience.
Engaging Every Learner with DreamBox Math
Thursday November 46 7:00 PM ET
Student engagement is the key to meaningful learning—and DreamBox Math is designed to meet every learner where they are. This webinar will explore how DreamBox Math supports differentiation, connects to core curriculum, and helps close gaps in math understanding. Learn how to use DreamBox Math to foster confidence, personalize instruction, and make math meaningful for all students.
Ready to energize your classroom with tools that help every learner? Join us!
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]]>The post Life Is a Puzzle—Solve It with Healthy Choices appeared first on Discovery Education.
]]>Find the right resources to spread awareness and empower
all students for Red Ribbon Week!
Observed annually from October 23–31, Red Ribbon Week honors the legacy of Drug Enforcement Agent Enrique (Kiki) Camarena and serves as a nationwide call to action for promoting wellness, safety, and prevention. It’s a time to recognize the impact of substance misuse and to encourage students to make healthy, informed choices that support their well-being and future success.
In celebration of the 2025 Red Ribbon Week theme, “Life Is a Puzzle, Solve It Drug Free,” we’re sharing proactive strategies and standards-aligned resources to help educators spark meaningful conversations and support students in building lives full of purpose, resilience, and connection.
Medication Safety
As part of the Pharmacists Teach program, Dose of Knowledge empowers educators, pharmacists, parents, and community members to guide students in making smart decisions about medication safety and mental health. These K–12 standards-aligned resources include everything educators need to teach students about responsible choices and wellness.
Think It Through, a choose-your-own-adventure animated experience that helps students practice decision-making and explore the consequences of their choices in a safe, engaging way.
Preparing for Positive Choices
The Ask, Listen, Learn classroom activities are designed with the whole child in mind.
These middle school resources help students:
- Understand the short- and long-term effects of underage use on the developing brain.
- Practice refusal and exit strategies to navigate peer pressure.
- Separate fact from fiction through scientific research and peer discussion.
- Explore real-world policy by creating mock legislation and debating societal impacts.
Ask, Listen, Learn helps students uncover the science behind how substances affect the brain and body, empowering them to say “YES” to a healthy lifestyle and “NO” to risky behaviors.
Look into Real Life
Created in partnership with the DEA, Operation Prevention offers tools for educators, families, and communities to support prevention efforts. These resources are aligned to national health and science standards and integrate seamlessly into classroom instruction.
Through hands-on investigations, students explore the science behind substance misuse and its impact on the brain and body. English and Spanish resources, self-paced modules, and culturally responsive content help kickstart life-saving conversations.
The latest Virtual Field Trip, An Ounce of Prevention, empowers high school students to make informed decisions and become advocates for prevention in their communities. Students meet real people working to combat the fentanyl crisis and raise awareness about counterfeit drugs.
Join us Oct 29 during Red Ribbon Week for Careers at Sea and Shore: A Virtual Field Trip to Maritime Manufacturing Centers — designed for Grades 6–12. This experience takes students behind the scenes to see how submarines are built and introduces them to the engineers, welders, and technicians who make it happen.
More than just a look at cool technology, this field trip highlights how living a healthy lifestyle can open doors to meaningful careers in industries like maritime manufacturing and national security.
“Red Ribbon Week is a powerful reminder that every choice students make is a piece of the bigger picture. By providing educators with engaging, real-world resources, we help students build the skills they need to make healthy decisions and lead safe, fulfilling lives. Our partners are committed to supporting these conversations with content that’s age-appropriate, inclusive, and empowering.”
Madeline O’Neil, Senior Partner Impact Manager at Discovery Education
This year, honor Red Ribbon Week by sharing ideas for making healthy choices, raising awareness of real-life challenges, and encouraging responsible decision-making in and out of school.
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]]>The post Opening Doors to the Future: Celebrating Workforce Development Month in the Classroom appeared first on Discovery Education.
]]>September is Workforce Development Month—a time to recognize the importance of preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s careers. For educators, it’s a powerful reminder that career readiness starts early, and that exposure to real-world opportunities can be the spark that ignites a student’s future.
Imagine a classroom where students not only learn about math, science, and history—but also meet astronauts, engineers, designers, and data scientists. For many students, especially those in underserved communities, this kind of exposure can be life-changing.
Why Career Exposure Matters
Educators know that curiosity is the spark that ignites lifelong learning. But curiosity needs fuel—and one of the most powerful sources is real-world relevance. When students meet professionals from diverse industries, they begin to see possibilities they may never have imagined. They start asking questions like:
- What does it take to become an astronaut?
- How do you design technology for space exploration?
- Could I do something like that one day?
For students who may not have role models in high-tech or emerging industries, these moments of connection can be transformative. They don’t just learn about careers—they begin to see themselves in them.
Career Connect: Bringing the Future into the Classroom
When you’re missing individuals in classrooms due to vacancies, your principals have to be very creative on how we ensure our kids are safe and continue to receive a high-quality education.
Discovery Education’s Career Connect feature in Discovery Education Experience is designed to do exactly that. By linking K–12 classrooms with innovative industry leaders, Career Connect helps educators build students’ career readiness while sparking engagement and curiosity.
Thousands of professionals have already shared their stories with classrooms across the country. And this October, students will have the chance to hear from one of the most inspiring voices in space exploration for a special spotlight virtual experience.
Career Connect Spotlight: Bob Behnken
On October 7 at 1:00 PM ET, students in grades 6–12 can tune in live to hear from Bob Behnken, Vice President for Exploration, Products, and Technology Strategy at Lockheed Martin Space Systems—and a retired NASA astronaut.
Bob will share what it’s like to do a spacewalk, fly a shuttle mission to the International Space Station, and train for space exploration right here on Earth. He’ll also talk about the skills needed to work in space—and answer student questions submitted in advance.
Register Now to submit questions and join the event.
Additionally, check out IF/THEN® STEM video profiles and student choice boards to spark curiosity, then explore a wide network of STEM volunteers ready to virtually visit your classroom with Career Connect. With support from Lyda Hill Philanthropies, you’ll help students see themselves in STEM and build bold futures.
More Ways to Explore Careers in STEM
Discovery Education and the STEM Careers Coalition offer even more tools to help students explore future-ready careers:
Career Finder Interactive
Wondering where to begin the journey toward a STEM career? The Career Finder interactive helps students discover in-demand careers that align with their interests. By answering a few simple questions, students can explore personalized career paths and learn what skills and education they’ll need to succeed.
Try Career Finder and start exploring today
Forging Innovation: A Mission Possible Virtual Field Trip
On October 9, 2025, unlock access starting at 7:00 AM ET to a brand-new virtual field trip:
Forging Innovation: A Mission Possible Virtual Field Trip
(Grades 6–12 | 22 minutes)
Take your students on a virtual journey into the world of steel—how it’s made, shaped, and used to build the future. This immersive experience introduces students to the science, engineering, and innovation behind one of the world’s most essential materials.
Can’t join on the premiere date? No worries—watch at a time that’s most convenient for your class.
Resources for Educators
Career Connect and the STEM Careers Coalition provide curated classroom resources—videos, ready-to-use activities, lessons, and interactive tools—to support career exploration and workforce readiness. These materials help educators integrate career learning into everyday instruction, making it accessible and engaging for all students.
This Workforce Development Month let’s celebrate the educators who are opening doors for students—connecting them with careers they may never have known existed and helping them build the skills to thrive in a changing world. Programs like Career Connect and tools like Career Finder make it easier than ever to bring the future into the classroom—and to show students that their future is full of possibility.
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]]>The post This Month at DE: May appeared first on Discovery Education.
]]>May is here and the end of school is just around the corner. While your students may have one foot out the door, keep them engaged until the last day with these fresh teaching ideas and timely content!
Pop of Professional Learning
Literacy is a key predictor of student success and essential across subjects, from reading lab instructions to solving word problems. Since reading combines language comprehension and word recognition, practicing literacy skills helps students develop these abilities beyond their ELA classes. Try these Top 10 SOS Instructional Strategies, which focus on building background knowledge, strengthening comprehension, and enhancing disciplinary vocabulary.
Timely Moments
Check out popular resources in Discovery Education Experience to keep student engaged with timely moments in May—right up until the last bell rings before summer!
Trending Topics
My Digital Life
Nine out of ten tweens use social media and gaming apps! As summer approaches, help equip your students with the skills to recognize and avoid irresponsible online behaviors through an engaging animated video series. This series, created in partnership with Norton, emphasizes the importance of making responsible decisions in our digital lives.
Operation Prevention
Grades 6-12
In honor of Take Back Day that was recently held on April 26 and organized by the DEA, we invite you to visit the Operation Prevention Channel! There, you’ll find valuable resources, including hands-on investigations where students delve into the science behind substance misuse and its effects on the brain and body.
Ask, Listen, Learn
Grades 3-8
Created in partnership with Responsbility.org, the newly updated Ask, Listen, Learn Channel offers resources designed to uncover the science behind how alcohol affects developing brains, bodies, and behavior—empowering students to make impactful decisions on their health.
Magic Moment
As the school year winds down, many K-12 classes have taken all kinds of field trips to museums, plays, parks, and more. And there’s still time to visit new places with Discovery Education’s Virtual Field Trips! Not sure how to incorporate them into your classroom time? Check out this recent blog Elevating Learning: Instructional Strategies for Engaging Virtual Field Trips.
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]]>Virtual field trips are a game-changer in education, offering exclusive behind-the-scenes experiences that transcend classroom walls. With the latest Virtual Field Trips from Discovery Education, teachers can lean on these effective instructional strategies to bring these exciting experiences into their classrooms, sparking curiosity and deepening understanding across grade bands.
The Superpower of Story: A Virtual Field Trip to Warner Bros. Studios
Students in grades 6-12 thrive on exploration and critical thinking. An inquiry-based approach will allow students to analyze the role of storytelling in entertainment, questioning how narratives are crafted and why they resonate.
Implementation
- Before the field trip, introduce essential questions like: What makes a story compelling? How do filmmakers use visual and narrative techniques to shape emotions?
- During the video, have students take notes on key storytelling elements and industry insights.
- Post-trip, facilitate a Socratic Seminar or a project-based activity where students develop their own short scripts or visual storyboards, applying the techniques they learned.
This strategy fosters critical thinking, creative expression, and essential analytical skills across disciplines.
Meet the Magnets: A Virtual Field Trip to the NSF Mag Lab
Students in grades K-5 grasp STEM concepts best through active, tactile experiences, and magnets provide an exciting way to explore forces and interactions with hands-on learning.
Implementation
- Before the video, introduce magnets through simple investigations like testing attraction and repulsion with household items.
- During the video, encourage students to record observations by sketching and describing experiments they see at the NSF Mag Lab.
- Afterward, engage in interactive STEM centers, allowing students to build magnet mazes, test electromagnetic properties, or create models demonstrating real-world applications of magnetism.
This strategy builds foundational science inquiry skills and aligns with early STEM learning standards.
Total Health: A Virtual Field Trip with NBA and WNBA
Students in grades 3-8 benefit from integrated learning experiences that connect physical wellness with broader academic content.
Implementation
- Start by exploring the science of movement with lessons on heart rate, nutrition, and the impact of exercise.
- During the video, students can track key takeaways using a graphic organizer focused on nutrition, fitness, and mental health strategies.
- Post-video, incorporate an interdisciplinary project where students design their own health and wellness action plans based on insights from professional athletes.
This approach strengthens connections between science, physical education, and real-world decision-making.
With inquiry-based exploration, hands-on STEM activities, and interdisciplinary wellness strategies, educators can turn these virtual field trips into transformative learning experiences. Whether students are immersed in storytelling, experimenting with magnets, or developing healthier habits, each virtual field trip offers an opportunity for deep engagement and meaningful connections.
Which strategy are you most excited to implement? Let’s make these field trips unforgettable!
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]]>The post Sparking Student Interest in Space appeared first on Discovery Education.
]]>Thanks to numerous events occurring this school year, it’s an exciting time for those of us that teach about space and space travel! From solar eclipses to developments in NASA’s Artemis programs, this school year offers unique opportunities to spark students’ interest in our galaxy.
Discovery Education has a wealth of resources to support educators teaching students about these events, as well as ways to add context to student learning by connecting scientific principles to space content.
Starting Your Space Exploration
Start your space lessons with the Explore Space: NASA’s Missions of Exploration Channel, where you can find fantastic resources on popular space topics. There are great introduction videos on the James Webb Telescope, the largest, most powerful, and most technologically challenging space telescope. Understanding how this technology is used can help students consider how galaxies are studied, and then they can view images captured by this amazing telescope! This channel also includes news on the Ingenuity helicopter, which is miraculously still going strong after recently completing its 59th flight in September 2023.
For younger students, you can introduce the excitement of space with fun animated segments such as Planet Cosmo and Earth to Luna! There are many ways to make your space lessons fun, exciting, and best of all, relevant! If you aren’t sure where to infuse space content into your science lessons, finding space-related events that are coming up and using these events to build context for your students can help the introduction feel meaningful.
The upcoming Artemis missions will create a ton of excitement as the four-astronaut crew was recently named and we are moving closer to the November 2024 launch date! Discovery Education has some terrific resources to share in the Moon Channel on the historic missions to the moon, such as The Apollo Project, as well as information about the moon phases from the DEmystified series, and an overview of the partnership with NASA and SpaceX in The Future of Space Travel.
The upcoming solar eclipses are other exciting space events you can connect into your lessons! An annular solar eclipse occurred on October 14, 2023, and a total solar eclipse will occur on April 8, 2024. The Solar Eclipses Channel has great resources, videos, and activities for students in grades K-12 that both describe the natural phenomenon of an eclipse.
Eclipses are unique solar events, and after the April 8 total solar eclipse, the next eclipse won’t occur over the United States until 2044! Discovery Education Experience has new resources to help students explore the wonders of this upcoming eclipse such as a video on How to Safely Watch a Total Solar Eclipse, activity to create a Pinhole Projector, and a video giving students a tour of NASA’s 2024 Solar Eclipse Map. NASA is also sharing a livestream so students can watch as the total solar eclipse moves across Mexico, the United States and Canada.
Additional Solar Eclipse Resources
Solar Eclipse Video Playlist
Videos in both English and Spanish explaining the phenomena of the "disappearing sun" and offering context about the total solar eclipse.
NASA's 2023 and 2024 Eclipse Map
Based on observations from several NASA missions, this map details the path of the Moon’s shadow as it crosses the U.S. during the annular solar eclipse in 2023 and total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024.
Creating Relevant, Fun Learning Opportunities
Adding a short, creative project-based learning element to your lessons around these current events can bring some additional engagement and excitement, even for students who may not think they’re passionate about space topics. For example, you can incorporate TimePod Adventures to allow students to “visit” another planet’s surface or launch and fly a rocket in HOME: Impossible Field Trip, which can bring the space concepts of a lesson to life. The AR Adventure Kit offers fun ideas that pair with the state-of-the-art, life-size augmented reality featured in TimePod Adventures.
Gamification and animation can make any topic fun and offer students a chance to use new technology tools! By using a free tool like Animate with Audio in Adobe Express, students can research a mission, planet, moon, or other phenomena and then create their own cartoon guessing game just using audio. This is always fun because the games can be played outside of the classroom with friends, family, and future students for years to come!
Resources like these are only the start, as there are so many amazing videos, articles, interactives, and more to discover. Even virtual field trips like the Journey to the Extreme: Virtual Field Trip to Mars, which includes an interview with NASA astronauts and program executives about the Curiosity mission and the ultimate goal, a journey to Mars! Start with one space lesson around a current event and create interested students who want to blast off to further exploration!
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]]>The post Encouraging Career Exploration in the Classroom appeared first on Discovery Education.
]]>What kind of skills are needed for your career? Does your position require strong communication skills, knowledge of software, efficient teamwork, or an understanding of machinery? While these skills are strengthened over time, the journey starts with exploring career options and considering which path is most interesting!
Here to share how she introduces career skills in her classroom and encourages her students to explore various careers is Delaware business educator, Heidi Corbin!
The Importance of Career and Technical Education
Career & Technical Education is important for K-12 students because these classes help to connect core content classes such as English and math to real life lessons and situations. As students progress through different courses, it may be difficult for them to connect how these courses will prepare them for careers or even which career will be best for them. The moment to make a career choice is far off for middle school students, but that means starting to consider career options early just gives them a head start!
CTE programs give students a chance to explore careers that they might be interested in after graduation. The exploration lessons and curriculum give them insight into careers they may already be familiar with as well as careers they may not have been aware of. As a middle school teacher, I help to prepare students to possibly earn an official credential in a career field of interest through high school coursework.
Career Paths and Skills
I like to focus primarily on the talents and strengths of the individual student and how it can help them have a better understanding and comfort level when navigating various core classes. My students first take a learning styles quiz and a personality quiz. I reiterate that their answers should be true to their own likes and dislikes, not their friends or family or even teachers’ opinions. Their honest answers are then analyzed, and they get specific input on what career paths and/or industries may be a good fit for them. I’ve used a variety of personality and learning styles quizzes with my students, and the Myers–Briggs personality assessment is one of my favorites!
There are many “lightbulb moments” when students get an analysis of possible careers based on their honest input about their own likes and dislikes! More often than not, they are surprised since they are at an age where they have a more challenging time seeing themselves for who they are instead of trying to fit in.
One personality quiz created by Major Clarity gives insight into the student by offering percentages of how much the following categories relate to the student’s personality – Conventional, Social, Realistic, Investigative, Enterprising, Artistic. I remember one student being upset about having a high percentage for being “conventional.” However, after reading the category description, the student actually agreed with it!
The quiz also shared that conventional people (titled “Organizers”) like to work with data, have clerical or numerical ability, carry out tasks in detail, or follow through on others’ instructions. They often prefer precise, rule-regulated, orderly, and unambiguous activities and their traits often include conforming, efficient, practical, unimaginative, and inflexible. The quiz recommended a possible career path in legal services, education, and healthcare. This student was set on a career in nursing, but the quiz helped them come to an understanding of how legal services and education might be a match too. Learning a career in education could be a good fit was the biggest surprise for this student because as the student said to me, “I would never want your job!” This helped open a conversation about the other ways to be a part of the world of education, which led to another epiphany—that working in education doesn’t just mean teaching!
I educate students about career paths that will require various levels of education which can range from apprenticeship, certifications, two-year degrees, four-year degrees and so on. A four-year college degree is not the only way to reach success, and shining a light on careers that have different requirements can help students plan for a next step that is right for them. However, students don’t always know what type of formal training or schooling is required for careers they find interesting, so I offer information on careers spanning all types of training programs.
Career skills are infused into my lessons and curriculum via real-life simulations and questions of the day. Both give me insight into their level of understanding and how to further direct the learning and exploration. Offering students the chance to look “behind the scenes” on real-life careers can help them explore the limitless career possibilities that exist for them! From the new heights in aerospace innovation to the work being done to protect our waterways, there are many Discovery Education resources that help highlight career paths and skills!
Advice to Other Educators
For teachers just getting started, I would recommend the Career Profile videos, Interactives, Virtual Field Trips, and the investigative videos such as Calculating Different Types of Pay. There are also many Channels that focus on a wide variety of topics that may interest students and spark interest in a possible future career, like animals, music, and video games!
My advice to teachers planning career exploration lessons is to make it as authentic as possible. Utilizing virtual career field trips, videos from experts or even providing real-life simulations to connect school to the real world. Students can feel that the “real world” is so far away that it isn’t worth thinking about, but bringing the real world into the classroom can help make learning relevant and inspire student engagement!
I’ve found that financial literacy lessons that include real-life simulations give students insight into what comes with working, and don’t just focus on making an income or fun ways to spend the money they earn. Earning and budgeting money is a big part of being a successful adult with a career! One of my favorite lessons is a gift budgeting activity where students are given $300 to spend on five people. Students are required to find a total of five gifts (one gift per person) that fit into their budget—and no cash or gift cards are allowed to be gifted! These real-world scenarios also help students better understand why adults say “no” to buying items children may want in the moment and help them set their sights on the future!
Middle school students have many milestones to meet before they enter the workforce, but it all starts with exploring different careers! Finding ways to nurture your students’ interests and help them learn about skills needed to excel in their career of choice can set them up for success—and start their journey early!
Heidi Corbin
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]]>The post Create an Interactive Journey to Career Readiness appeared first on Discovery Education.
]]>Incorporating immersive learning tools transforms the learning experience by allowing students to “learn by doing,” putting them at the center of the learning process.
Gamified experiences promote career readiness by introducing students to diverse career opportunities and allowing them to bridge the gap between academic learning and real-world applications.
What is Immersion, and Why is it Important?
The CHS Foundation and Discovery Education have partnered once again to provide high school students nationwide with digital curriculum resources that cultivate ingenuity and success through an understanding of the cooperative business model. HARVEST: From Seed to Success is a gamified learning experience designed to immerse students in the world of agriculture and cooperative business. This innovative digital resource provides students with a hands-on, engaging platform that puts them in the role of a farmer, responsible for making critical decisions about soil health, crop selection, and harvest timing and goes beyond textbooks and lectures, helping them explore real-world challenges within an industry that is critical to our global economy.
Interactives like HARVEST are more than just a game—they’re a powerful educational tool designed to cultivate essential life skills like problem-solving, critical thinking, and decision-making. Alongside the interactive, educators can take advantage of the downloadable Educator Guide, which is full of practical resources to help ease introduction of the material, scaffold lessons, and offer students an enriched learning experience that prepares them for future career paths in agriculture and beyond.
By stepping into a real-world role—such as a co-op farmer-owner in HARVEST—students can:
1. Practice Critical Thinking and Decision-Making Skills
Interactives aren’t just about agriculture or the other hands-on content they highlight, they’re about teaching students to think critically, solve problems, and collaborate effectively. As students progress through games, they must weigh the consequences of their decisions, learn from their mistakes, and adjust their strategies—skills that are crucial in any career path they may choose. In HARVEST, students select crops based on soil composition and plan harvesting at the optimal time for maximum yield. This mirrors the kinds of challenges they will face in the workforce, particularly in sectors like agriculture, technology, and business.
2. Engage with Real-World Challenges
Agriculture is a complex, multifaceted industry, and HARVEST allows students to get hands-on experience with the same kinds of decisions farmers and agricultural professionals make daily. From analyzing soil samples to operating a combine, students gain a deep understanding of the agricultural process and how cooperative businesses work to share resources and maximize success. While students cannot always take their learning outside and get their hands in the dirt to learn about agriculture, interactives provide a chance to experience the challengesof a new career industry from the comfort of the classroom.
3. Make Learning Fun through Gamification
Gamification, the integration of game mechanics into non-game settings, has been proven to boost student engagement and motivation. Games provide an environment where students can experiment and learn through trial and error. HARVEST allows them to do just that, rewarding exploration, creativity, and perseverance, which are key to both educational and personal success. The interactive nature of HARVEST also provides students with immediate feedback on their choices, helping them understand the direct consequences of their decisions.
Think of gamified resources as the jelly in a sandwich, with the educator materials serving as the bread around it—supporting and enhancing the learning experience. By leveraging the power of gamification and immersive learning with programs like HARVEST, educators can help students explore new career paths, develop transferable skills, and gain the confidence to tackle future challenges in any ‘field’.
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]]>The post #CelebrateWithDE: Powerful Resources for Recognizing Red Ribbon Week appeared first on Discovery Education.
]]>Find the right resources to spread awareness and empower all students for Red Ribbon Week!
Observed annually every October 23-31 to honor the memory of Drug Enforcement Agent Enrique (Kiki) Camarena, Red Ribbon Week is a time to reinforce alcohol, tobacco, and drug prevention, recognize the harmful effects of substance abuse, and promote the importance of making healthy and safe decisions.
In honor of the 2024 Red Ribbon Week theme of “Life is a Movie, Film Drug Free,” we’re sharing proactive strategies and standards-aligned resources to help educators facilitate meaningful class discussions while supporting the health and well-being of all students.
Introducing Medication Safety
Get a “Dose of Knowledge” with CVS Health! An extension of the Pharmacists Teach program, Dose of Knowledge strives to empower educators, pharmacists, parents, and other members of the community to support education related to substance misuse and guide students to make good decisions for the health and well-being of themselves and their community. These standards-aligned K-12 classroom resources give educators everything they need to teach students of all ages about medication safety and mental health! With new resources like the choose-your-own-adventure, Think it Through, educators and students can engage in an interactive animated adventure empowering healthy choices and decision-making skills.
Preparing for Positive Choices
Designed with the whole child in mind, cannabis classroom activities from Ask, Listen, Learn focus on how kids interact with society and how society influences their behavior. Through these informative and engaging drug prevention activities for middle school, students will:
- Address the dangers and effects of underage cannabis use on the developing brain, both short- and long-term, while collaborating on refusal and exit strategies for peer pressure.
- Separate facts from fiction through class activities, scientific research, and meaningful peer discussion.
- Explore the evolution of federal and state regulations, engage in meaningful debate as they develop their personal ideas and beliefs, then assume the role of an elected official and create their own mock legislation.
Ask, Listen, Learn is built to help students uncover the science behind how alcohol and cannabis affect developing brains, bodies, and behavior. With these prevention resources, both educators and families can equip students with vital prevention skills and dive deep into the science, data, and facts, helping kids decide to say “YES” to a healthy lifestyle and “NO” to all risky behaviors.
"Providing educators with high-quality resources connected to the real world helps empower students with the knowledge needed to make healthy choices. Our partners commit to providing support on critical topics through engaging, age-appropriate and relevant content. Red Ribbon Week provides the opportunity to connect communities around the importance of health and safety, and we're proud to offer diverse resources that give educators what they need to navigate difficult conversations in thoughtful, creative ways.”
—Beth Meyer, Vice President of Partner Impact at Discovery Education.
—Beth Meyer, Vice President of Partner Impact at Discovery Education.
Look into Real Life
Created in partnership with the DEA, Operation Prevention provides tools to support every member of the community with the power of prevention. These resources are aligned to national health and science standards and integrate seamlessly into classroom instruction. Through a series of hands-on investigations, students will explore the science behind substance misuse, and the resulting impacts on our brain and body. Kickstart life-saving conversations this Red Ribbon Week with English & Spanish language resources, self-paced modules, culture-based content, and much more!
The latest Virtual Field Trip from Operation Prevention, An Ounce of Prevention, is here to empower students in grades 9- 12 with knowledge they can use to make healthy decisions, become advocates for prevention in their communities and fight back against the fentanyl crisis. Students will meet people working on the ground in communities nationwide to amplify awareness and decrease the demand for fentanyl and counterfeit drugs.
This year, honor Red Ribbon Week by sharing ideas for making healthy choices, information to raise awareness of real-life situations, and ways to make responsible choices in and out of school!
The post #CelebrateWithDE: Powerful Resources for Recognizing Red Ribbon Week appeared first on Discovery Education.
]]>The post 7 Black History Month Teaching Ideas Featuring Authentic Voices and Resources appeared first on Discovery Education.
]]>Black History Month is the perfect opportunity to explore the many remarkable people, events, and accomplishments that have helped shaped our nation. Explore these curated collections of authentic resources that celebrate Black History.
As you look for ways to bring a new dimension to these milestones, consider ways to go beyond what’s commonly covered to help your students draw meaningful connections to their learning. Introduce your class to the first African American women to travel to space or dig into the impact of the Harlem Renaissance. Offering new perspectives and experiences can drive deeper cultural understanding and help your students see themselves in the history!
1. African American Experiences
K-12
Show students how the contributions, struggles, and triumphs of African Americans are woven into the fabric of American history and culture. Students will learn about America’s complex history, gain insight into the experiences of classmates, and imagine a more equitable future for all.
2. Celebrating Black History
K-12
Find everything you need in this comprehensive collection of high-quality content and learning resources. Browse content highlighting the lives and contributions of Black writers, soldiers, scientists, artists, and more! Learn about a variety of prominent figures in history and learn new perspectives that help students see themselves in history.
4. Honor the Red Tails
K-12
Share the incredible true story of the Red Tail Squadron as told by Colonel Charles McGee, one of the last living members of the Tuskegee Airmen. Dive into the history of the Tuskegee Airmen and the accomplishments of African American pilots during World War II. Then learn how the Red Tails fought, not only to protect American lives, but to also end segregation in the US Armed Forces. End the video with a panel discussion featuring Colonel McGee and his fellow Tuskegee Airman, Cadet William T. Fauntroy, Jr., as well as Command Sergeant Major Michele S. Jones—the first woman in the U.S. Army Reserve to reach the esteemed position.
5. Ready-to-Use Activities
All Grade Levels
Explore these ready-to-use activities to celebrate Black History Month and bring exciting historical figures and stories into your daily lessons! Spanning all grade levels, browse Sentence Fix-Its for younger students or full February Activity Calendars for grades K-8 that offer an activity for every day of the month.
6. Remember Rosa Parks
Grades PreK–8
Remember Rosa Parks on her birthday (February 4) with Discovery Education’s Rosa Parks resources! Introduce PreK-5 students to her impacts on the Civil Rights Movement with the Curiosity: Rosa Parks video, which shows how Rosa Parks made a stand against segregation from her famous bus ride through the rest of her life. Next, get K-2 students thinking critically about Rosa Parks with the Rosa Parks activity or have 6-8 students summarize what they’ve learned with the Tweet Tweet activity.
7. Voices of the Civil Rights Movement
Grades 6-12
Find First-Hand accounts and learn more about the people behind the Civil Rights Movement! Created in partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal, Voices of the Civil Rights Movement‘s videos and related activities will help students discover new, authentic perspectives of this historic era.
The post 7 Black History Month Teaching Ideas Featuring Authentic Voices and Resources appeared first on Discovery Education.
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