Extra Credit: Goodies for the Teacher and Student

Credit: Bill Duke

Media Construction of the Middle East

Free online access; free DVD on request www.projectlooksharp.org [1]

This curriculum for digital-media literacy builds awareness about our media-saturated world, with a focus on the embattled Middle East. The e-kit sifts through social studies content with maps, songs, cartoons, periodicals, and films. A video clip of Disney's Aladdin, for example, livens up a discussion of the region's stereotypes, while comparisons of Israeli and Palestinian texts and American encyclopedias train minds to identify bias and propaganda. The twenty-two lessons open young eyes to a new way of absorbing media, whether they flip through Time or watch The Daily Show.

Credit: Bill Duke

Inventive Thinking Toolkit

Free download www.bkfk.com/teacher/toolkit.asp [2]

Philo Farnsworth cooked up TV technology at fourteen and an eleven-year-old was the first to freeze a Popsicle, so the imaginations of today's budding inventors should be truly astonishing. The tool kit, created to assist future science and tech wizards in grades 3-12, includes an interactive DVD and success stories of patented products, such as the Battie Caddie and the Crayon Holder, created by BKFK (By Kids for Kids) inventors. Kids keep a journal of their process and receive pointers on identifying and solving problems -- although there seems to be no easy way to invent a zapper that will make homework disappear.

Credit: Bill Duke

Geography Zone

www.geographyzone.com [3]

The global classroom comes to life at this interactive site, where more than a million students have participated in the world's largest online geography contest. Classroom groups compete with other school teams worldwide, and kids can test their knowledge of world capitals, bodies of water, rivers, and mountain ranges. For $15, buy the Global Puzzle, a challenging 600-piece mind-bender in which each piece is shaped like a country.

Credit: Bill Duke

SmartHelp

Apangea Learning www.apangealearning.com [4]

If your precalculus students think y = ax² + bx + c reads more like a passage from a foreign language than a quadratic function, maybe they could use a boost. More than forty school districts now use SmartHelp, an Internet program combining oneon-one tutoring for grades 5-12 with artificial intelligence-driven lessons, which costs schools a mere $1-$2 per hour. The software offers feedback during a lesson, but if a student is still puzzled, a live tutor is flagged to provide guidance via instant messaging. At their own pace and in their own home, students solve problems involving common stumpers such as decimals, pi, and those darned parabolas.

Credit: Bill Duke

Telescopes in Education

www.telescopesineducation.com [5]; 1-520/558-0103

Provides K-12 students and educators with remote access to a 24-inch telescope at southern California's Mount Wilson Observatory. After reserving observation time during an evening of the week, students use a modem and remote astronomy software to peek into space and download images of the universe to their classroom computer. Participating classrooms pay for the software, but access to the telescope is free, assisting students with conducting research and publishing papers. It makes stargazing a whole lot easier.