Whether it is for the unusual situation of schools being formally closed, a home school situation, or just students needing extra help, Phet simulators are quite informative. These math and science study aids are available online, and they can be accessed and used at no cost. They are ideal replacements for manipulatives when it is not possible to obtain manipulatives.
Not every student learns the same. Some can read and analyze a book and do fine. Others are visual learners, and must see, or even handle, something to understand a problem. This is a way to reach the visual learner, and even those who must interact with the problem.
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Teaching has changed vastly. Many changes dilute education, such as the student is now considered a customer with a right to complain about not getting a high grade. This leads to grade inflation, or the faculty member who keeps the course credible can be in trouble with the administration. Of curse, this is a function of the institution. I hope others are not yielding to pressure. Another thing is use of groups, and one department chair actually said at a faculty meeting the purpose is a strong student will work for the A and bring the rest of the group along, which is a way of "justifying" passing the lazy students.
blackspanielgallery, Thank you for the practical information and product lines: in particular, I like the Jupiter and Saturn mugs (although I'd like even more a mug with my favorite planet outside Earth, Uranus).
Have you found the learning style changing throughout your teaching career? An environmental education course that I took indicated that research and studies suggest changes toward more interactive methods such as the handling that you mention alongside visual learning.
Here most schools went online, but there is no one site that I am aware of. Education is left to the states, so what and how things are available is varied. In my area the public schools are not all good, so parochial schools run by the Catholic Church, schools run by some other denominations, and even private schools are easily found, with each having its own material for online, if it went that way. So we have no one link.
One problem we must recognize is time available. Families with multiple children may not have enough computers for all, so real time interaction is not something we can expect of each child. Some schools are trying real time interaction, even at the college, but with attendance problems due to computers being used for other things, such as parents working from home and for siblings' education. And not everyone can afford internet service, so a national link would not work here.
Ty for this article. My grandson will be particularly interested in the space posters that you highlight.
May I recommend for home learning,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize BBC is doing lessons on all topics to all school age children