How to Leverage Technology in the Classroom

According to a 2017 study, about 63% of K-12 teachers use technology in their classrooms daily. Other studies suggest that number is rising each year.

As more and more elementary classrooms access educational technology, they can tap into the many available programs that really bring social studies alive.

Integrating Studies Weekly Online’s primary source videos, images and artwork with the following software programs will help your students experience history, geography and their community in amazing new ways.

Google Classroom is an easy way to integrate tech into your classroom. Google Classroom is a platform for organizing and assigning assignments to students.

Teachers can put links, videos, assignments and assessments on Google Classroom. Students can work on these activities at home or in the classroom. Teachers can then provide students with immediate feedback through the platform and quickly clear up any misconceptions or issues effectively.

Additionally, students can collaborate with others on projects and assignments through Google Classroom, using Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides and more. This prepares them with essential collaboration and career skills needed for most industries today.

To see how you can assign Studies Weekly articles, videos, images and audio through our Google Classroom integration, visit our Google Classroom article.

Adobe Spark is an online platform to create videos, slide shows, posters, graphics, collages and more. Adobe Spark is very user-friendly and includes many useful templates.

Using the tools on Adobe Spark, teachers can create fun and engaging lessons that include beautiful images and videos.

Students can also use the platform to create projects that include videos, collages and slideshows. For example, students can start simple by designing a poster about a historic event found in a Studies Weekly publication.

Nearpod is an online student engagement platform where teachers can create interactive presentations for their classroom or use ready-made ones. Students interface with the program via a tablet or other electronic device.

In addition to the virtual field trips available through Studies Weekly Online, Nearpod also has multiple virtual field trips for students and teachers. Teachers can use these to “travel” to destinations students learn about in the Studies Weekly publications.

Teachers can also use ready-made lessons on Nearpod that tie into the concepts, events and people addressed in the Studies Weekly publications.

Kahoot is a fun, interactive quiz game. Teachers create a quiz or assessment online, and the whole class plays the game together using tablets, phones or other devices. The object of the game is to answer questions correctly as fast as possible.

Using Kahoot, teachers can create quick multiple-choice assessments to check students’ understanding about a Studies Weekly unit or article. This is a much more engaging learning tool than paper tests, and gets students excited about showing their learning.

Quizlet Live is an interactive game, similar to Kahoot, that teachers can use to reinforce learning or as an assessment. Quizlet is unique in that it is best used to focus on learning vocabulary and terms. Students collaborate and work as teams to answer questions correctly.

Using Quizlet Live, teachers can create an assignment or assessment — similar to digital flashcards — for students to complete. Studies Weekly incorporates vocabulary and other ELA concepts into its publications, and you can use Quizlet Live to reinforce ELA learning from the Studies Weekly publications.

Padlet is an online collaboration platform, where students can collaborate and work together on “boards” — projects, timelines, presentations, etc. Padlet presentations are similar to Powerpoint or Google Slides, but with a more visual interface.

Teachers can also use a board to post a question that students answer in the same interface.

Using Padlet, teachers can ask an open-ended question about a Studies Weekly unit, article or image, and students can post their replies to the board.

Additionally, students collaboratively can use Padlet and Studies Weekly images and content to create a timeline, a project about an event or person, or their own newspaper reporting on a historical event.

Pairing Studies Weekly products with these educational technologies in your classroom improves students’ acquisition of the 6C’s skills — especially collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking and problem-solving. These skills are essential to their future —however they choose to shape it.