“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” -Carl Sagan
Kentucky school librarians Jen Gilbert and James Allen have combined the power of Britannica School, Google Sites, and readily-available public images to provide a unique experience for their first graders at Eminence Independent Schools.
In the form of a simple yet engaging micro site formatted for tablets, the interactive tour of the solar system puts the cosmos literally at the fingertips of students.
“We gave printed QR codes to our 1st grade teachers to allow the kids to get there easily with their iPads.” Explains Allen in an email. “The Creative Commons and/or public domain images are linked to Britannica School Elementary articles.”
Explore the project here!
If anyone knows how to create one-of-a-kind visual learning journeys, it’s this team. Pictured in an Instagram post below is Allen, presenting on Britannica Learn’s behalf at the 2017 American Association of School Librarians annual conference in Phoenix this November.
@james3 presenting about “Moving Beyond the Selfie” #aasl17 #imagequest @britannicalearn
A post shared by Mona B (@hikinglibrarian) on
Allen may be a practiced pro when it comes to weaving images into instruction techniques, but upping your classroom ed tech doesn’t have to be rocket science. Look out in 2018 for more from the Britannica Learn experts on how to teach like a techie, with or without access to the Britannica family of digital tools.