Discovery School (http://school.discovery.com/) is devoted to providing
materials to enhance the learning experience of school-age children by
providing students with study resources appropriate to their age,
parents with advice to help their children, and teachers with
innovative materials to improve their lessons. It achieves its
goals extraordinarily well.
Discovery School is published by Discovery Communications, owners of
Discovery Channels television. Links are provided to the
television broadcast schedules, along with background information and suggested
lesson plans for teachers.
Every teacher who visits Discovery School will want to join Custom
Classroom which provides access to Puzzlemaker, Quiz Center, Lesson
Planner, and Worksheet Generator – tools which simplify some of the
more time-consuming planning and administrative tasks. In
addition, the Curriculum Center contains a wealth of ideas for teaching
science, including activities, projects, and even quizzes.
The Homework Help page is bound to be a hit with students, particularly
the Fun and Games section. Even the Study Tools section takes an
innovative approach to learning through the use of puzzles; it also
offers hundreds of links to sites to help with homework.
Brain Boosters exploits the willingness of children to play to
learn. Adults will probably find themselves trying out a few of
these conundrums, although they may not be pleased with the results.
Children’s articles on the site lean toward scientific oddities or
unusual approaches to the ordinary. They cover an enormous span
of history, reaching back to Queen Cleopatra and forward into
space. Students can look back at the woolly mammoth to
investigate extinction, into the ocean at barracuda, or at the ground
they are walking on to get the download on dirt.
A library of clip art provides material for children to use in their
projects and teachers to use on handouts. Everyone knows that a
funny picture makes the test easier to take and notes home
more readable.
Whether you have children in your life or not, you are sure to enjoy
all or part of this site. Discovery School is designed to prove
that we are all perennial students.