Web Resources for Standards-Based Instruction

California educators have many valuable online resources that support instruction of the K-12 content standards and student achievement.

All About Explorers
This website helps students become critical readers as they examine information on the World Wide Web. Among the different explorers at this site, some information isn't quite right! Have students look up other information resources to find the discrepancies, then follow up with activities that ask students to check sources before they believe what they read.

BrainPOP
BrainPOP creates animated, curriculum-based content that supports educators and engages students. Appropriate for both group and one-on-one settings, BrainPOP can be used in numerous ways, from introducing a new lesson to illustrating complex subject matter or providing review before a test. Content, available in English or Spanish, is aligned to state standards and easily searchable. A fee-based service, BrainPOP is already available to some Sonoma County schools through their SCOE Library Services contract. See the BrainPOP demonstration materials on the Civil War to consider the site's effectiveness for your student populations.

ExploreLearning Gizmos
ExploreLearning offers a range of interactive simulations in math and science for students in grades 3-12. They're called Gizmos and they are designed as supplemental curriculum material to support state and national curriculum standards. Watch a video offering a view of how Gizmos can support student learning about fraction sense, then browse the Gizmos catalog.

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives
The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives is a free resource that promotes three key areas of mathematics instruction presented in California Mathematics Frameworks: procedural skills, conceptual understanding, and problem solving. Virtual manipulatives are sorted by grade and linked to the standards. Instructions and lessons are shared for each of the 100+ manipulative activities. To use, select a manipulative from the grade level you teach and an activity from one of the strands. Strands include the areas of number, algebra, geometry, measurement, and probability.

SCORE, Schools of California Online Resources for Education
SCORE, Schools of California Online Resources for Education, provides Internet resources that are aligned to the California Content Standards. Developed in the last 1990s, the SCORE sites have lost some of their funding base over the last few years and some areas may have inactive links. Despite this, they continue to serve as a model online resource for teachers.

• SCORE: Language Arts
  At the Language Arts site, you’ll find Internet-based lessons called CyberGuides that are correlated to academic standards and other supplements to core literature materials.
• SCORE History/Social Science
  Here you'll find over 3,000 web resources supporting California's academic standards, searchable by grade level or topic, with lesson activities, projects, electronic field trips, discussion groups and more.
• SCORE: Science
  The SCORE Science site provides Web-based resources and lessons that are searchable by standard or topic, a student-friendly Kids Corner, and an Ask-a-Scientist feature.

Thinkfinity.org
Thinkfinity.org is part of the Verizon Foundation. Their goal is to improve student achievement in traditional classroom settings by providing high-quality content. They have over 55,000 resources that have been screened by education specialists to ensure that content is accurate, up-to-date, unbiased, and appropriate for students. Check out these links to see some of their material: Interactive Games, Homework Help, Maps.

WebQuests
Many K-12 educators are finding value in WebQuests, which present students with challenging tasks, scenarios, or problems to solve. The best WebQuests are on topics that encourage students to look at issues from multiple perspectives. Students begin by learning common background knowledge, then divide into groups to master particular roles, tasks, or perspectives. They then synthesize their learning by completing a summarizing act such as e-mailing congressional representatives or presenting their interpretation to the world. Bernie Dodge, an instructor at San Diego State University, has done extensive research work with WebQuests. He has analyzed them to create a Taxonomy of WebQuest Tasks.

Contact

• Rick Phelan, Coordinator, Professional Development
  (707) 524-2847,