Wake Your Class Up with Simulations!

Have students ever expressed that your class is boring? Have you ever wanted to show students an experiment but didn't have the equipment? Need a way to spice up your classroom? Well why don't you WAKE YOUR class up with simulations? I have complied a list of EXCELLENT simulations that I have actually evaluated (except one) for user-friendliness, design, cost, attractiveness, and effectiveness. This list will be updated regularly so continue to check back!

 

Social Studies

• iCivics- This EXTRAORDINARY site has great lessons for studying constitutional rights, debating, roles and responsibilities of the president, and the 3 branches of government. They can not only be used in a Civics or Government class but very useful in a U.S. History class (when studying the constitution) or in Geography (when studying government or in a unit about the US) Very easy to use, appropriate for all ages, and it's FREE. http://www.icivics.org/
• Playing History- This is a good collection of historical simulations that include various areas of social studies. They are easy to use and fun! http://playinghistory.org/
  
• You Are There- These historical simulations APPEAR to be very good. However, because of software restrictions on my computer, I have only seen it once but have not had time to fully evaluate. However, I feel it may be worth your time.
• U.S. History Simulations- http://www.wadsworth.com/history_d/special_features/ext/hist_sims/
• World History Simulations- http://www.wadsworth.com/history_d/special_features/ext/westciv_sims/
  
• Flight to Freedom- http://ssad.bowdoin.edu:9780/projects/flighttofreedom/intro.shtml
•  Nobel Prize- The Nobel Prize organization has a whole section on education simulations that have been nominated and/or won Nobel prizes! They have some  SUPERB simulations for science, including chemistry, physics, and biology. http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/all_productions.html

Science

• PhET (University of Colorado at Boulder)- This has WONDERFUL  simulations for Science and Math. They are easy to use and only require that you download Java. It has versions into almost 20 different languages. You can even embed the simulations for students to play straight from your website or blog. These are SUPERB!  http://phet.colorado.edu/
• Molecular Workbench- This GREAT site allows students to work thought simulations, asks multiple choice questions, and makes  to explain what happened in a short essay. You can even create your own simulations or change current ones to fit your individual class needs or state objectives. http://mw.concord.org/modeler/
• Explorer Learning-  Now this exceptional site has simulations for science and math for grades 3-12. The best features about this site is that you go get activities specific to state standards or Common Core, and it comes complete with a student worksheet and a student vocabulary sheet. It does have a free samples and a 30 day free trial (which does give you full access to everything) but to get continued full access, you have to get the paid version. http://www.explorelearning.com/
• Nobel Prize- The Nobel Prize organization has a whole section on education simulations that have been nominated and/or won Nobel prizes! They have some  SUPERB simulations for science, including chemistry, physics, and biology. http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/all_productions.html

Math

•  University of Colorado at Boulder- has GREAT simulations for Science and Math. They are easy to use and only require that you download Java. It has versions into almost 20 different languages. You can even embed the simulations for students to play straight from your website or blog. These are SUPERB!  http://phet.colorado.edu/
•  Explorer Learning-  Now this exceptional site has simulations for science and math for grades 3-12. The best features about this site is that you go get activities specific to state standards or Common Core, and it comes complete with a student worksheet and a student vocabulary sheet. It does have a free samples and a 30 day free trial (which does give you full access to everything) but to get continued full access, you have to get the paid version. http://www.explorelearning.com/
• Illuminations- This site has over 100 simulations. They you can pick by grade level or standard. They also have lesson plans and a few assessment questions. http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivitySearch.aspx
• Shodor- This site has an interesting variety of simulations that are easy to use and don't require downloads. http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/

Reading/ Language Arts

• Read-Write-Think- This site has interesting simulations that go with many reading and writing skills. They even have accompanying lessons and they are FREE.  http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/
• Nobel Prize- The Nobel Prize organization has a whole section on education simulations that have been nominated and/or won Nobel prizes! They have some simulations for social studies and economics. http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/all_productions.html
• Mr. Anker- Has some good simulation on basic language arts skills (parts of sentences, analogies, homophones, vocabulary, reading comprehension). http://www.henryanker.com/

General

• Google Advanced Search 
• If you want to search and find simulations and games by topic (for example by a topic such as colonization, photosynthesis, solving quadratic equations, etc.), you can use Google Advanced Search. 
1. Read my article on Using Google Search to Find Resources
2. When you select the format, use  Shockwave Wave Flash (.swf)

This list is CONSTANTLY growing so make sure to check back often. Any suggestions kimberlyscott@gmail.com or @ingeniousteach

Using the Internet to Find Resources Specific to Your State’s Standards

Do you ever get tired of making worksheets, power points, and activities for your students? Do you sometimes find great resources on the internet but they are not specific to YOUR state standards? Well I’ve got a couple of quick, easy ways to find resources (power points, worksheets, activities, tests, lesson plans, etc.) specific to your state   

• Google Advanced Search-I’m sure you have ALL searched for something using the Google search engine. What you may not know is that there is an advanced search feature on Google that can help you narrow down your search. To do this….

1. • Copy and paste one of your state standards into the Google search engine (just the words, not any preceding numbers
   • When the search results come up, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page 
   •  At the bottom of the page on the left, click the link entitled Advanced Search  (https://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=Type+State+Standard+Here&hl=en&biw=1525&bih=681&prmd=imvns)
    
   
   •  On the Advanced Search Page, scroll to the bottom of the page and look for a drop down menu entitled “File Type"
    
   • In the drop down menu, you have a number of options. I will not only list them, but give you a best scenario list for them
                                                                  i. Power points- Use the Microsoft Power Point (.ppt, pptx) selection
                                                                ii.      Tests, Quizzes, Activities- Here you can usually find these in Microsoft Word (.doc, docx) OR the Adobe (.pdf) selections
                                iii.      Flash Games- Although you may have to search for them by topic (i.e. Cells) and NOT the state objective, these will return some creative games and simulations
   • If the results are still too broad, try putting quotation marks around the search terms

• Power Point Search Engine- This search engine returns ONLY power points. However, these still return an impressive list of results. For this search engine you can search with the state objective or the topic. Remember to use quotation marks to help narrow your search. 

• Happy Tree Flash-  http://happytreeflash.com/ 

 

• Ppt Search Engine- http://www.pptsearchengine.net/

 

• Free Download- When I found this site, I thought it was one of those sites that downloads malware and viruses. However, I tried it and got some great results! http://freedownload.is/

 

Of course if your state-specific results don’t yield any good results, you can also use the same method to search by topic (i.e. instead of searching for your state objective on fractions you can simply type “fractions” in the search box) BUT use the steps outlined above to narrow down your search. Go ahead try it! I haven’t met a teacher yet who wasn’t amazed and thankful :)