Technology & Education by Laurie Lenz

Infohio Resources

Posted by Laurie Lenz on February 23, 2012   Category: Infohio    .

Resource
Grade Level	K-12	6-12	PK-12
Curriculum Connection	The site includes a number of Social Studies and Science content digital videos. For Social Studies there are video over a number of topics beginning with the Early Colonies, continuing through the American Revolution, 1800’s and into the 20th & 21st Century.  These provide a good visual to the readings and content learned in class.	This resource provides a collection of primary sources and back ground information of the source.  This would apply to any social studies content area within United States History.	The site provides lessons that connect and meet standards of various grades and content area.  The site begins with Pre-K and continues through grade 12.  It also provides other resources and assessments that are aligned with the standards as well.
Key Features	The site boasts over 2,000 videos that are either short supplementary clips or many full length films to be used primarily in Social Studies and Science classes.  The videos are ordered alphabetically and also chronologically.	The collection is organized by topic such as Government, Religion, Presidents, and Immigration.  It also includes a background on the author of the primary source as well as several writing examples from a variety of authors.	You can search for a lesson or assessment based on the grade, content area, and standard that you looking to teach.  The standards also available on this site as well.
Do you plan to use any of the resources noted above in your for teaching/learning? If so, what are some possible ideas of how to utilize the resource(s)?	I certainly plan to use this resource.  There are several excellent supplementary videos from 5-15 minutes.  This would be a good visual for the students to see.  It is also another source or explaination of information other than the content found in their textbooks.  This would appeal to visual learners and others who struggle with content area reading.	Primary Sources are a big part of my Social Studies Class.  It is the first thing that they learn in 8th grade history.  I like the variety of resources and how many are abridged so that they are more comprehendible to middle school students.  This site will definitely be a resource for my history classes.	I did find a number of good lessons on this site that I plan to incorporate in my class.  I thought they were creative and thought provoking.  I like that they directly apply to the content required in each class and the variety of activities and ideas that the various lessons provide.
What is better for designing classroom materials, resources like these, or the “open” Web? Why?	I prefer theses resource rather than the open web.  A lot of time can be “wasted” while searching for appropriate videos, lessons, and primary sources.  When I do find something related, the source can be questionable or it does not meet my objectives/standards quite like these educational oriented resources do.  I would prefer to use these resources but I do recognize the value of “open” resources.  I believe that balance needs to be maintained between both resources.  There are a number of advantages.  Variety is a must in education, particulary differentiated instruction.  A knowledge of both resources would be an idea situation.