Your students live in a digital world filled with the latest hardware (laptops, tablets, and smartphones) and software (interactive apps and social media). As you look for ways to incorporate these new technologies into your classroom or lab, you face more than 1 challenge. Not only do you need to find electronic resources that are accurate and effective, they also must be affordable and fit your curriculum.

Related Resources

Learnetic Middle School Science Learnetic Middle School Earth Science

Now there’s a single online location where you can find superior science e-learning tools. Carolina Science Online™, launched at the 2011 NSTA Area Conference in Seattle, has 2 distinct goals:

1. Create a destination for digital science and math resources, making it easy for educators to find high-quality instructional resources that have been reviewed and approved by our Carolina product development teams
2. Identify and offer resources that are free or “for fee” so educators can blend resources to match any budget

Carolina Science Online™ offers online resources such as digital versions of Carolina’s student and teacher guides, plus other materials to reinforce and support our traditional hands-on science teaching materials. We invite you to register at Carolina Science Online™ and browse resources. We also welcome your recommendations and insights regarding digital resources you have found to be most supportive of your instructional goals. To join our mailing list, go to Carolinascienceonline.com and select “Click here to sign up” or, better yet, click Login in the upper right corner, create your account, and begin using Carolina Science Online™ today!

Partners in learning

Learnetic
In addition to offering our own resources, Carolina is partnering with other outstanding e-learning providers to present a comprehensive middle school math and science program. One provider, Learnetic, combines whole-class interactive whiteboard activities (also useable with an LCD projector and classroom computer) for teachers with matching and reinforcing individual activities for students. Use the whole-class content to engage students and the “Create a Playlist” feature of Carolina Science Online™ to assign student “playlists” comprised of individualized student activities. Student work is scored and reported to teachers, which provides useful feedback to inform subsequent instruction.

Like all Carolina Science Online™ resources, Learnetic content is designed to be used with standard Web browsers. This means any computer with Internet access, anywhere, any time of day, can become an instructional tool! You can create blended learning environments for students that offer the best of in-class and online support resources. Even better, many of the Learnetic resources can be purchased in different user configurations: as a schoolwide license, in a low-cost classroom bundle, and/or for a single user.

Twig
Early this year we will release our new Twig World collection of comprehensive 3-min films on science. The more than 500 films in the collection combine spectacular footage from the BBC with support materials and assessments created in partnership with classroom teachers to fit the science curriculum and reinforce instruction in the classroom or at home.





Rigorously researched by academics and the Carolina product development teams, the Twig collection is cataloged by curriculum subject and delivered through Carolina Science Online™. The content engages learners of all abilities from 3rd grade and above. Use Twig in class, or students can use it at home—the films are effective on a whiteboard, laptop, or smartphone. Delivered with lesson plans for teachers, materials for students, and quizzes for users of all ages, Twig is an invaluable addition to the teaching mix.

PhET
Finally, we are pleased to partner with the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the PhET initiative and offer a collection of interactive simulations that support science teaching. PhET provides fun, interactive, research-based simulations of physical phenomena for free. To help students visually comprehend concepts, PhET simulations animate what is invisible to the eye through the use of graphics and intuitive controls such as click-and-drag manipulation, sliders, and radio buttons. To further encourage quantitative exploration, the simulations also provide measurement instruments including rulers, stopwatches, voltmeters, and thermometers. As the user manipulates these interactive tools, responses are immediately animated, thus effectively illustrating cause-and-effect relationships as well as multiple linked representations (motion of the objects, graphs, number readouts, etc.). Easy to use and incorporate into the classroom, all PhET simulations are available free from Carolina Science Online™. Find your favorite PhET simulation, create a playlist, and enjoy!



Carolina, your digital partner
All of us here at Carolina Science Online™ are eager to partner with educators in the pursuit of online resources that enhance your teaching day and engage and stimulate student interest and inquiry. With Carolina Science Online™ we’re just getting started, so we welcome your comments and feedback. As one of the newest members of Carolina’s team, I look forward to working with all of you toward building a new and productive tool for science educators. Feel free to contact me at any time.