Let’s set the scene: You’ve got your classroom routines set. Your students know your expectations and they’re actively learning in your classroom. But as you cross completed school days off your calendar, you’re looking for new and creative ways to keep students engaged around a break, through the mid-semester slump, or after an assessment. Many teachers are turning to interactive learning resources to help them crank up the level of student engagement in their lessons – and the Discovery Education team has rounded up some of our most popular Interactives for you to explore!
Interactives are known for changing the dynamic of the classroom from passive listening to active participation. Students can research, experiment, and have fun learning about topics at their own pace through a variety of interactives like virtual labs, investigations, maps, and more. Every teacher has had the thought, “How can I make this lesson more exciting for my students?” cross their mind, and interactive resources are becoming popular because even though they don’t feel like standards-based practice, they allow students to practice and sharpen essential skills and knowledge in a fun, exciting way.
Not only do interactive learning resources create a fun game-like experience for students, but they also provide opportunities for students to test and experiment without purchasing physical materials for your classroom! Instead of purchasing a map for each student to draw on or finding an academic board game (and keeping track of the pieces), digital interactives bring “fun” to the classroom with fewer items for you to gather!
Discovery Education Experience is full of Interactives spanning all grades and a variety of content, so we gathered the most frequently assigned interactives in each subject area for you to start your exploration!
Social Studies
Add a new layer of excitement to your Social Studies lessons with Interactives that allow your students to explore our world! With interactive base maps and overlays, students of all grades can use The World Map to identify key physical and human features. Another popular Social Studies Interactive is How Our Economy Works: Spend, Save, Spin for students in grades PreK-5, where students are challenged with determining realistic wants and needs, making good choices, and using mental math, to work their way around the digital “board.”
Science
Add a new layer of excitement to your Social Studies lessons with Interactives that allow your students to explore our world! With interactive base maps and overlays, students of all grades can use The World Map to identify key physical and human features. Another popular Social Studies Interactive is How Our Economy Works: Spend, Save, Spin for students in grades PreK-5, where students are challenged with determining realistic wants and needs, making good choices, and using mental math, to work their way around the digital “board.”
Math
Make Math practice more exciting than ever with Interactives! Alien Addition and Meteor Multiplication are the two most popular math Interactives in Discovery Education Experience. In both interactive math games, students in grades PreK-5 defend themselves from other-worldly challengers by practicing their addition (PreK-2) or multiplication (3-5) facts!
English Language Arts
Students can practice reading, writing, and spelling skills with Interactives, too! In Verb Viper, students in grades 3-5 are encouraged to choose correct verb tenses (present, past, past participle), recognize correct verb forms (ran instead of runned), and recognize subject-verb agreement (I am, he is). Another popular ELA interactive, Spelling Bees, helps students in grades PreK-5 sharpen their spelling skills by building the biggest honeycomb hive by spelling the most words in the time allowed!
If you like these, or want to explore more interactive learning resources on different topics, check out our collections in the Best of Interactives, PhET Interactive Simulations, and Arcademics Channels. Want to take it a step further? You can keep up with the latest interactive and immersive resources, leveraging augmented reality and gamification, on Discovery Education’s Immersive Learning Hub.
Have you used one of our interactives with students? Be sure to let us know on social media! Don’t forget to tag @DiscoveryEd so we don’t miss it!
