This site is no longer active or maintained. It is an archive of trainings 2013-2019 at Pu'u Kukui Elementary School.
Discovery Education and Science TechBook
November 15 - Are you new to Discovery Education or have you used it in the past but need a refresher? This is an amazing tool and I think you're really going to appreciate what DEN has made available for you and your students.
Let's Get Started
You can access Discovery Education through the left sidebar on the Student page on our school website. You will need to log in and enter your password. Ask Debi for help if you don't know your username and password. Discovery Education is no longer just about Science. We have purchased two services that are currently available to our teachers: Discovery Streaming Plus and Science TechBook. We have Discover Streaming Plus for another year and Science TechBook will expire at the end of December.
Resources for getting started at the Help page that you might be interested in http://help.discoveryeducation.com/support/
Resources for getting started at the Help page that you might be interested in http://help.discoveryeducation.com/support/
My DE
Logging into Discovery Education will bring you to your My DE page. This is your portal for everything in DE. You will find the following:
- Search bar (at top of screen)
- Navigation bar (at top of every screen)
- Information you might be interested in that's happening now (e.g., Tundra Virtual Experience)
- Your profile information
- A link to your digital professional development journey
- A quick checklist for getting started (that will be replaced with tools when you complete the checklist)
- Links to the 2 services we have available
- Links to other teachers using DE at our school
- Another navigation bar to DE Home information/Community (DEN)/Services
- under the DE Home link you'll find current activities, global news, on this day, events and twitter information
Common Navigation Bar
At the top of each page there is a common navigation bar so that you can access the main areas and tools that you will be using. These include:
- My Content - This area is set up to help you store, organize, assign, and edit content for students and for teaching your lessons
- Builder Tools
- Class Manager
- Professional Learning
- My Notebook (for use with Science TechBook) watch the video at the link to see what it can do.
My Content
You can create folders and move content in and out of folders. Clicking on the Actions folders to the right of a folder lets you share/move/copy content, edit/delete content and assign it or add it to your quick list. This is the powerhouse area of your account. You can search for resources to use with students, place those resources into folders and then plan for how you will assign them to your students. When you go to preview videos you'll notice that you can use full clips (usually very long) or segments of clips (short). You can also download clips to use (so you don't have to worry about Internet connectivity).
Builder Tools
These tools are amazing. Each tool lets you customize learning for your students. From this page you can see assignments, assessments, quizzes, boards, and writing prompts you have created and you can create new ones in each category. In this area of the site you have access to:
- Assignment Builder
- Assessment Manager
- Board Builder (totally cool newer feature)
- Writing Prompt Builder
- Quiz Builder
Classroom Manager
The Classroom Manager is a tool to help you manage your classes and your students. There's tutorials showing what each section does and how you can work with it. This area is also where you will go to see the work your students have done (not done). If you need to add students to your class you would go to this area, click on My Classes under the Classroom Manager, find your class and then click on the Edit button. It will take you to a screen where you can choose students to add to your classes.
Professional Learning
This area is full of resources for you to use as you are working with DE. Use the tabs (Learn & Lead, Strategies & Resources, Events & Experiences, and Connect with DE) to navigate to resources you might need.
Discovery Streaming Plus
Under My DE Services you'll find the link to Discovery Streaming Plus. Streaming Plus helps you find videos, songs, still images, and readings to support your lessons and it also has a wealth of standards-based common core lessons and ideas for you to use. Click on the Streaming Library tab and you can filter to your grade level, choose a content area and search for what you need. Notice that your Tools and Resources are accessible from this interface. Clicking on the Common Core in the Classroom tab takes you to standards specific resources.
Science TechBook
Back to My DE Services you will find a link to Science TechBook (until our subscription expires). Science TechBook is a new resource and you can access it from the web but it is spectacular when accessed from an iPad. Following the 5 Es NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) units have been created for each grade level. These are interactive and visually stunning. You can choose between Physical Science, Life Science and Earth Science Units and then view an overview of the unit, see the standards addressed, look at the whole unit and see what it looks like.
What the student sees
When students log in they go to the student interface where they can get immediate access to current news, see their assignments, go to the student Resource Center, write in a Blog, Play Games and Get Involved. They are able to customize their interface. Their navigation bar lets them go to Board Builder and create a multimedia board, identify favorites and use the Notebook (for Science TechBook only).
Board Builder
Are you looking for another way to have students share their learning? Check out Board Builder. Students identify a topic, gather resources, write their content and then build their boards. They are able to begin with a blank board or they can choose a thematic template.