The Newest Educational and Engaging On-line Resources for Students and Instructors from National Geographic Education

Review of: National Geographic Education – Online Teaching Resources, http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/teaching-resources/?ar_a=1. We have all come to know and love the engaging, visual content from National Geographic. Recently they have expanded their outreach efforts in education, increasing their educational programs and resources for schools, out-of-school settings, and the home. The goals of National Geographic Education are twofold: 1) Increased “Geo-literacy,” an understanding of how the world works and how people and places are connected, and 2) “Educational Outreach,” maximized impact of the National Geographic Society’s rich media, scientific, and exploration programs on their education audience. The National Geographic Education website contains high-quality materials and programs for both educators and learners that can be accessed online, in print, and in person at http://education.nationalgeographic.com. This review specifically examines the teaching resources aimed at K–12 education but these can be adapted for introductory college science courses. The website also focuses on developing cutting-edge learning technologies; their aim is to apply innovative uses of technology to more effectively reach learners in and out of the classroom. I feel they are off to a great start. Let me warn you that you may not want to explore this website unless you have plenty of time. As a biologist, I found myself wandering all over the site, spending lots of time reading various materials and watching the fascinating videos! I decided to review the “Genetic Markers: Connecting the Dots” activity which is aimed at grades 9–12. This activity involves looking at how genetic markers can help us understand ancient human migration routes. The lesson plan is helpful and provides learning objectives, teaching methods, connections to science standards, preparation guide, timeline, guided activity, background information, and vocabulary. The activity can easily be linked to biotechnology, evolution, and human migration to be used in an introductory biology class. A “Do More with this Resource” link is helpful in assigning additional videos and readings. The website also includes an interactive map builder where students can build a map of human migrations. I found this activity to be engaging, thoughtful, thorough, accurate, and easily executable. I especially recommend it for a high school biology class and would consider it with some changes for the college classroom. Next on my journey was checking out the “Activity Index” page where one can narrow one’s search by age, audience, and subject. I selected the “Marine Food Chains and Biodiversity” activity, which explores five separate marine ecosystems. While parts of the activity were elementary for a college level class, it could be modified for higher-level use. The activity included several videos that are a great introduction to hook students into the topic. Even if I do not assign this activity in my class, I will use the videos. Do you need a quick idea on adaptations of animals of the arctic, or maybe some information on elephant behavior? Visit the “Education Blog,” where you will find beautiful pictures and engaging educational stories. Students and instructors may also enjoy and find useful the associated Facebook page or Twitter feed. For instructors and students alike this website accomplishes its goals of providing high-quality educational material. I plan to use it as a video resource library to help introduce topics in my introductory biology class. I will also consider assigning some of the videos in our course management system to prime the students for upcoming lectures. The only negative feedback is that since this is a free website, the videos begin with a brief advertisement, but overall I feel this is a small price to pay for the ability to access this engaging material.