Using Digital Content
We believe students should be creators with technology and not just consumers, so FCIT provides a wide range of digital assets for students to build their projects and, consequently, their understanding. But with well over 100,000 pieces of free digital content for the classroom, FCIT’s collections can be a bit overwhelming. The purpose of this blog is to highlight important areas of digital content and provide suggestions for using these digital “building blocks” in the classroom. Expect to find posts featuring FCIT’s clipart, photo, audiobook, and map collections among others. Your guide for this blog is Dr. Roy Winkelman.
Photo of the Month: O’Shaughnessy Dam
The O'Shaughnessy Dam is a breathtaking construction feat. Although built a hundred years ago, it is still an amazing structure. The thundering waters and rising mist add to the drama. Perhaps even more dramatic was the Hetch Hetchy Valley that was...
Hidden Gem: Lots of Bots
Usually in this space, I share a digital content collection from FCIT's ClipArt, ClipPix, or Maps ETC websites. This month, we'll look at a collection of robots I created for the Technology Integration Matrix website. The collection includes...
Spooky Stuff
Take advantage of your students' fascination with spooky stuff this month. We've collected our favorite Lit2Go stories and poems along with some spooky images from FCIT websites. The items in the collection will probably give you many ideas for classroom...
Ancient Digital Content: Presentation Backgrounds
2004 is reasonably ancient in Internet Time. That's when I started creating Presentations ETC, a website of resources that students and teachers could freely use to individualize their Powerpoint or Keynote presentations. At that time, I was visiting many...
Photo of the Month: Why Stripes?
Most students will easily recognize this zebra by its stripes. But why stripes? That question has interested scientists for a long time. And, no doubt, will interest your students as well. Too often students (and adults as well) expect all science to be...
Autumn in Verse
(Our friends from Australia and elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere will probably prefer to celebrate the September equinox with our collection of spring poetry on Lit2Go.) Most classrooms I visit in autumn have sprouted colorful leaf bulletin board...
Photo of the Month: Bonsai – Art, Social Studies, Science
This is a photo of a fig bonsai tree taken at the Morikami Japanese Garden in Delray Beach, FL. This area was once home to the Yamato Colony, a Japanese settlement in Florida during the early twentieth century. The photo raises many questions that overlap...
Creating “Historic” Postcards
I collect old things. Old books, old maps, old stereoviews, and old postcards. Of these four, the postcards give the most personal insight into history. I enjoy both the image side of the card and the message side. If letters of yesteryear are the emails...
Photo of the Month: What is this bird doing?
This month's photo is a mystery for your students to solve. It's actually an anhinga drying its wings because it swims underwater to find food. Unlike other bird species, its wings become waterlogged so it can stay underwater completely and for longer than...
A Beatrix Potter Summer
Summer's a great time for kids to push away from the keyboard for a bit and engage in some decidedly non-digital activities, but that's not to say our digital collections can't be a great starting point. Beatrix Potter is one of the most popular authors on...
Using Digital Content
Teaching and Learning with Technology