WHAT’Snew
Sophia has updated its online
platform and is now offering more
than 25,000 tutorials—bite-
sized lessons created by experts
on a wide variety of topics—that
feature a mix of text, audio, video, slideshows, and more.
Students can now complete a short learning assessment
that helps them determine their learning preferences, so
they can choose the format that appeals to their learning
styles. The site also serves teachers interested in “flipping”
their classrooms by allowing them to create their own content, choose tutorials, or use the newly developed Pathways,
which are sequenced tutorials featuring full standards-based
curricula. Each learning path contains hundreds of tutorials,
with at least five educators for each concept who teach the
material in different ways.
MORE INFO: www.sophia.org
The Nature Conservancy
and Discovery Education
have launched Nature
Works Everywhere, a
free website designed to
teach the importance of
environmental conserva-
tion. The site provides middle school teachers, students, and
families free tools and resources to explore and understand
nature. It includes videos, interactive lesson plans, and an
interactive game that allows students to learn how nature
helps create their favorite things, such as ice cream, sand
castles, and lemonade. A Meet the Scientists section allows
teachers to introduce their students to real-life scientists
from The Nature Conservancy. Students can learn how mod-
ern scientists protect natural areas, restore natural systems,
and help nature adapt to change to benefit people in all
climates.
MORE INFO: www.natureworkseverywhere.org
Annenberg Learner has created an app that allows bud-
ding naturalists and scientists to use their iPhones, iPads,
or Android phones to report sightings of birds, butterflies,
and other migrating species to the Journey North website.
The app provides tools including maps, a geographic locator,
and a function to record and send field notes. App users can
take and send photos of their quarry using their device and
connect to a growing database of field observations used by
students and scientists. The Journey North is an educational
website dedicated to the study of wildlife migration and
seasonal change. It features migration maps dating back to
1997, images and photos of wildlife, video, standards-based
lesson plans, classroom activities, and information from sci-
entists about specific species and seasons.
MORE INFO: www.learner.org/jnorth
The Gilder Lehrman Institute
has launched a new website
designed for U.S. history
teachers and enthusiasts.
History by Era is an online
curriculum offering original essays by renowned historians,
podcasts, interactive features, exhibitions, timelines, teach-
ing tools, and primary source documents. The short-video
series “Essential Questions in American History” is one of
the many virtual learning tools available on the site. History
teachers will find featured primary sources from the Gilder
Lehrman Collection that are annotated and accompanied
by teaching guides and questions to help bring history alive
in the classroom. In addition to the content, social media
features allow teachers to work together to deal with similar
challenges and develop solutions.
MORE INFO: www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era
L&L senior editor Diana Fingal compiled this information from press releases sent to the L&L editorial office. The L&L staff does not
review the products and resources, and they are offered here without recommendation. Send press releases to products@iste.org.
